Through Their Eyes
by almostmissingyou
Summary: Lilly is fighting for her life, Joe is falling apart and all their friends can do is wait. While in the hospital waiting room, they remember Joe and Lilly’s relationship from the very beginning. Loe. Niley.
1. Chapter 1: Nick

**So…I know I took a poll on "If Cupid Had a Heart" about which story I should write next. This one was idea A, and as of now the votes were about even. Since I already had most of the first chapter of this one written, I decided that this would be next. So here it is! I hope you enjoy!**

**And sadly, I don't own the Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montana. It's pretty tragic, actually…**

**NJNJNJNJNJ**

**Chapter 1: Nick**

From the very first moment they met, Lilly and Joe were made for each other. I should know. I introduced them. There was this instant connection. It was like from the second they met, everyone knew that they were going to be special. And they were. They are. 

From the second they locked eyes, I think everyone knew it was one of those earth-shaking, life altering moments for them. I don't know if we understood it then, but I think we all felt it. And as we watched them fall in love, we knew it would be that life-long soul mate kind of thing. And we, their friends, were lucky enough to be there every step of the way. From the first meeting, to the first kiss, to the first fight, we were there. We were there to congratulate them, to cheer them on, to offer a shoulder to cry on. But now, in the latest twist to their story, there's nothing we can do except to worry and wait and watch the story unfold. You see, their story is a love story. And it's a really good one, too. I just hope that it has a happy ending.

**NJNJNJNJNJ**

The first time they met, she fell for him. Literally. She ran into him and fell on her butt. 

She wasn't Lilly then. I knew her as Lola Luftnagle, Hannah Montana's best friend. And I wasn't yet aware the Hannah was Miley. Since we were based in L.A. and Hannah Montana was based in Malibu, our managers thought it would be really cool to get together and do a few concerts around Southern California. Lola hadn't been at the first few. You tend to notice a girl with bright orange hair.

In any case, she was at our concert in San Diego, and she definitely stood out. I'll admit I was kind of weirded out by her. I ran into her when I knocked on Hannah's dressing room door when her dad asked me to go find her. Lola answered the door. 

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!" she squeaked and slammed the door in my face. "IT'S NICK JONAS!!" I could hear her yelling through the closed door. There were hushed voices speaking fiercely. A minute later, the door opened again. It was Hannah this time.

"Er…hi?" I said awkwardly. She smiled at me and I'm pretty sure I blushed. Yes, I have a crush on her. A big one.

"Sorry about Lola…she just gets really excited about meeting celebrities," she said apologetically. 

"It's okay," I said, trying to act nonchalant. "Hi, Lola!" I gave her a little wave. She squeaked, turned red, but managed to wave back.

"So what's up?" Hannah asked. I may have been imagining it, but I thought I saw her blush, too. 

"Um…." I completely blanked on why I was there. 

"Hey Nick, did you get lost?" I heard Kevin say somewhere behind me.

"Uh…" I said intelligently.

"IT'S KEVIN JONAS!" I heard Lola shriek. I covered my ears and braced for more, but Hannah ran over and clamped a hand over the other girl's mouth. 

"Calm down. On the count of three, I'm going to let you go," she told Lola nodded. "One. Two. Three."

"EEEE-" Hannah covered the girl's mouth again.

"MIKE!" she called out. A boy dressed in baggy clothes and a goatee that had to be fake came in. Was that…armpit hair on his face? I had seen him around at a few of the other concerts, but I'd never spoken to him. I was pretty sure his name was something like Mike Standley. The Third. Seriously, who would name their kid after a mic stand?

"Yo, yo, yo!" he greeted. Was this guy for real?

"Take care of Li-" Hannah stopped mid sentence. "Take care of Lola, here. Make sure she doesn't embarrass herself. Or make anyone go deaf." She stepped out of the room to where Kevin and I were standing and closed the door. "I'm really sorry about that. Believe it or not, she's actually gotten better about the whole celebrity thing…But you guys are her favorites…Just be thankful that she didn't see Joe…" She shuddered and looked absolutely adorable.

"By the way, we came by to tell you that your dad is looking for you," Kevin told her. "He said something about going over a new song…"

Hannah looked at a clock hanging near the door. "Sweet niblets, I was supposed to be there ten minutes ago! Thanks guys!" And with that, she rushed off. I sighed.

Kevin put his hand on my shoulder. "You forgot to tell her, didn't you?"

"I forgot how to talk, is what it was," I groaned, and we walked over to our own dressing room to finish getting ready. An hour later, we got on stage and did our set. It was going to be us first, then Hannah and then our duet. I loved it. Performing was such a rush. For me, at least back then, it was the best thing in the world. We got off the stage as soon as our set was done, and I still felt exhilarated. When we got backstage, I had to laugh at the sight that met my eyes. 

It was Lola and that Mike guy. They each had a plate piled high with grapes and were apparently having a contest. Evidently, the point was to see which of them could catch more grapes in their mouths. It was apparently Mike's turn, as we watched him throw grapes up into the air and try to catch them. Lola kept count out loud, and Mike was really not very good at this. Most of the grapes were bouncing off of his nose, his forehead, his chin…They didn't notice we were there. Lola's back was to us and Mike was a little busy at the moment…

"Fifteen…" Lola called out, She looked at her cell phone.. "Aaaaaaaaaand TIME!"

"Your turn!" Mike said around a mouthful of grapes. I looked over at Kevin to see him cringing at the boy. Joe, on the other hand, looked utterly fascinated by Lola. "Five minutes, starting…NOW!"

Lola was much better than this than Mike. Every five she caught, she'd stop for a second, chew, swallow, then start all over again. About a minute and a half into her turn, she already matched Mike's fifteen. We watched in fascination. 

"Who is she?" Joe whispered in awe, a minute later. She was up to twenty-five. 

"Hannah's friend," I replied.

"She's awesome!" Joe said, still staring. We continued watching.

She was at 45 when Oliver called time. It startled her, so the grape that she had been throwing had much more arc than she had expected and it went backwards. I expected her to just let it go, like any normal person would. But as I would soon find out, Lola wasn't normal…

She ran backwards, her head still tilted back and her eyes tracking the grape with her eyes. She was so focused on the grape (and she was running backwards) that she didn't notice that she was headed right towards us. Kevin and I moved out of the way, and Joe was trying to when she crashed into him. He tried vainly to catch her, and she fell flat on her butt.

"Ow," she muttered. Joe chuckled and offered her a hand.

"Here, let me help you," he said, smiling. 

"Thanks," she muttered, blushing and taking his hand. She hadn't looked up at him the entire time and I was kind of dreading the moment when she would look at him. After her reaction to us and Hannah's hint that her reaction to Joe would be worse, I was really nervous about it.

Apparently I didn't have to worry about anything. She looked up at him as soon as she was on her feet and froze. He did, too. As soon as they locked eyes, Joe's face kind of changed. I don't know if he realized it then, but I'm pretty sure that it was love at first sight. A silly grin spread over his face.

"Joe, meet Lola," I introduced them. "Lola, meet Joe."

"Hi," he said goofily.

"Hi," she replied shyly. I was confused. Where were the squeals, the screaming, the shrieking? And Joe…I'd seen him attracted to girls before, but never like this. He was quiet and still. Usually as soon as he met a girl he liked, he tried to impress her with his silliness and his humor. 

"Hi," he said again. Behind me, I heard Kevin groan and I laughed. Neither of us could believe that this was our brother.

I saw a grape flying at her head from Mike's direction. When it hit her, it seemed to shake her out of her stupor. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed. "How much did you guys see?"

"Enough to know that you totally kicked Mike's but," I answered with a grin. I watched her close her eyes and turn red.

"That was pretty awesome," Joe piped in. I guess he managed to get past "hi". "Can I try?"

"Sure!" Lola exclaimed brightly. She grabbed his hand and went with him to get a plate of grapes. When they returned, Oliver had his cell phone ready to time Joe.

"Just so you know," Joe said, some of his regular personality coming back. "I'm totally going to kick your butt."

Lola laughed, and she whispered something in his ear. Joe tilted his head and grinned. "I'll remember that," he said. And as soon as Mike yelled "Go!", Joe was off, with Lilly cheering him on.

Kevin came to stand next to me. "Is it just me, or was that…"

"Weird?" I finished. He nodded. "Definitely."

"I think she'd be good for him, though," he mused. We looked at them again, just in time to see Lola try to snatch a grape out of the air before Joe could catch it, but he managed to grab her wrist and get the grape at the same time. Lola laughed and I saw Joe's shoulders straighten a little, like he was proud that he had managed to elicit that sound from her.

Mike called time a few minutes later. "Forty-four…TIME!" 

"Ha!" Lola shouted. "I win!"

"You tried to cheat!" he protested.

"Doesn't matter, I still won!" And she started dancing around in a circle jubilantly.

I laughed as Joe tried to catch her. He finally did. "I want a rematch!" he declared.

She stuck her tongue out at him, but she gestured for him to follow her and they went to get more grapes. Mike, in the meantime, cleaned up the other grapes that they had dropped. 

Joe and Lola hurried back with more food and quickly staged a rematch. As I watched them, I couldn't help but think that maybe Kevin was right. She would be really good for him. I had no doubt in my mind that he was attracted to her and the she was attracted to him. It was only a matter of time before they started dating. At least, that's what I thought. And I had a feeling that they'd be something pretty amazing.

**NJNJNJNJNJ**

I tried to keep up with Miley as she ran into the hospital waiting room. She saw my parents and threw herself into my mother's arms. Oliver was already there with them.

"What happened?" she cried in panic. "Where are they? What happened?" She was almost hysterical and I ran up to her and put my arms around her.

"Kevin and Lilly have been shot," my mother said quietly. I looked up in shock. Kevin and Lilly…but where was Joe? And I saw him, slumped in a chair, looking completely broken and his suit was covered in blood. Oh God, no. No, no, no, no, no.

"How are they?" I asked quietly.

"The bullet hit Kevin's arm. It's gonna hurt for a while, but he's going to be okay," my dad said quietly. "They're just keeping him for a while for observation."

"And Lilly?" Miley whispered after he didn't say anything for a moment. Her question was met with silence. She broke free from me grabbed my father by the shoulders. "What about Lilly?" She looked at Oliver, who refused to meet her eyes. "DAMMIT, ANSWER ME! WHAT ABOUT LILLY?" she screamed wildly. Miley was practically shaking my dad. I looked at both my parents. There were tears in both their eyes. I looked back at Joe, who just looked completely destroyed.

"She- she's alive, but she was shot twice in the stomach," my mom answered weakly. She loved Lilly like daughter, and I could tell that this was hard for her. My heart twisted. Oh God, not Lilly. Not the girl who was practically my sister. My dad pulled away from Miley and put his arms around my mom. She practically collapsed into them. "Another bullet grazed her temple."

"NO!" Miley shouted. Her voice lowered to a whisper. "No! No. How did this happen? We were just with them." She turned her glazed look on Oliver, who stood up and put his arms around her. "We just saw them. We were just with them." She sobbed into Oliver's arms. Silent tears were streaming down Oliver's face, and I realized that I was crying, too.

I knew I had to ask the question, but I dreaded the answer. "How is she doing?"

My dad's answer felt like a punch in my gut. "They don't know if she's going to make it."

**NJNJNJNJNJ**

**So, there's chapter one! All chapters are going to be like this one. It'll be someone's point of view from the past and then at the end of the chapter, it will cut to the present in the hospital. The events of Lilly and Joe's relationship, as well as what happened to Lilly and Kevin will be revealed throughout the story. **

**So please review and let me know if you love it or hate it. Reviews make me ridiculously happy. Constructive criticism is always welcome, but flames aren't really appreciated…**

**I might actually break my self-imposed rule and start several stories at once, but I'm not sure…for now, though, I hope you enjoy this one!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-v**


	2. Chapter 2: Miley

The second time Lilly and Joe me, there were sparks

**So here's another chapter. I hope you all like it. Thanks again for all the reviews and favorites and story alerts. The positive responses really helped me to write this chapter so quickly. I hope you enjoy!**

**I still don't own the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana. But check back again next week and maybe that will change. But it probably won't.**

**MSMSMSMSMS**

**Chapter 2: Miley**

The second time Lilly and Joe met, there were sparks. Literally. Joe almost burned the building down.

It was about two weeks later. We were doing another concert together, this time in L.A. and Lilly, Oliver and I were waiting in my dressing room for my turn at sound check.

"I can't believe you met Joe Jonas and I didn't _hear_ you!" I said incredulously. Lilly laughed and threw a pillow at me from across the room. But I was completely serious. Lilly had been totally infatuated with Joe since…well, forever! She loved the Jonas Brothers in general, but when it came to Joe it was almost absurd how crazy she got.

"Not only did she meet him, but she tossed grapes with him," Oliver added.

My mouth dropped open. She didn't. "You didn't!"

Lilly groaned and hid her face in another throw pillow. "I did. He probably thinks I'm nuts!"

"You are nuts," Oliver pointed out. That got him a pillow thrown at his head.

"Shove it, armpit face," she glowered.

"Relax, Lills. He thought it was cute," he informed her. "When I talked to Nick –"

That got my attention. "You talked to Nick? Where? When? Did he say anything about me?"

Lilly burst out laughing. "And I'm the obsessed one?" she muttered. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Did he say anything about me?"

"Actually, all he wanted to talk about was Lilly and Joe…He seemed to think they had a connection. And now that I think about it, I agree," Oliver answered. I'll admit I was a little disappointed. I was practically in love with the guy, but I was pretty sure that he didn't feel the same. Then I zeroed in on what Oliver said.

"Oh, don't tease," Lilly moaned. "It's not nice."

"I'm not! I'm serious!" Oliver cried. And I could tell that he was. I would definitely have to check this out…

There was a knock on the dressing room door. I quickly made sure that I was all Hannah-fied and yelled for whoever it was to come in. It was my daddy.

"Hey bud, time for soundcheck!" he said. He waited for me, Lilly and Oliver and we followed him to the stage. The Jonases were still on stage rehearsing one last song when we got there. It was S.O.S. I could tell immediately when Joe saw us. His face lit up and he stopped mid song and waved. Lilly smiled and waved back. As soon as the song was finished, Joe hurried towards the front of the stage.

"Hey Lola!" he called out. He tried jumping off the stage but his foot somehow caught on a cord and he tripped. That wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't somehow brought down an entire set of stage lights with him. The lights came crashing to the ground, too, and since they were still plugged in, sparks flew everywhere when the light bulbs cracked. I winced. Ouch.

"That's gonna leave a mark," I heard Lilly say from behind me. Suddenly one of the curtains caught fire, and I could tell that she wasn't sure whether or not she should laugh. Apparently she decided against it when she rushed past Oliver, daddy and me to go see if Joe was alright as stage hands put out the flames.

"It's a good thing we got here early," daddy sighed. "We'll still have time to fix this."

But I wasn't really paying attention to him anymore. I was watching Joe and Lilly. He was sitting at the edge of the stage where she was standing and she was looking at a cut on his hand. She pulled a small first aid kit out of her purse (trust me, she needs one wherever she goes…she's Lilly, after all, and she's friends with Oliver) and started cleaning him up. He looked at her quizzically and asked her a question. Probably about why she had a first aid kit in her purse to begin with. She answered and he threw back his head and laughed uproariously. Everyone was staring at the two of them.

"I think they're perfect for each other," a voice behind me said, making me jump. Startled, I turned around and found my face to face with Nick.

"You scared me," I said dumbly. Wow, Miley. Reeeeeal brilliant.

"Sorry," he said with a grin. "But I noticed you watching them. And I think they'd be good together."

I agreed, but I was a little confused. "How can you tell?" He was a boy. Boys usually couldn't figure out these kinds of things. Oliver usually had to have them explained to him in detail. Then again, he was Oliver…so maybe he was a bad example…

"You didn't see them the other night when they met," Nick replied. "There was this look on Joe's face…like he'd been given a lifetime supply of hair gel…or…or…"

"Like he'd found the secret to happiness," I finished for him.

"Exactly! How did you know?" he asked.

I smiled. "It's the kind of look Lola gets on her face whenever she talks about him. Whiiiich is pretty much all the time."

Nick laughed. "Joe, too! He kept kicking himself for not asking for her number the other night. It never occurred to him to ask you for it…"

"And I see you didn't suggest that to him," I said with a raised eyebrow.

"Nah, it was too much fun watching him torture himself. That's just what brothers do," Nick informed me with a smirk. Wow, he looked so cute right there. Well, he looked cute all the time. "Look," he said, pointing towards Lilly and Joe.

Apparently she was finished with his hand, and he whispered something to her. She laughed and blushed, then leaned forward and pressed her lips to his bandaged palm. I smiled as Joe stilled, then a blush spread over his face and he grinned. He said something else to her. Then he leaned down, picked her up by the waist and set her on stage with him.

"I didn't realize that your brother was that strong," I commented.

"Yep, we all work out. I could probably pick you up, too," he said.

I felt my cheeks turning red. "I don't think so-" I started to say but then shrieked when he scooped me up in his arms.

"See?" he said smugly. "Told you I could do it." I heard giggling coming from the stage and I saw Lilly whispering something in Joe's ear and pointing to us. "Let's go over there," he suggested and he carried me to them. I laughed the entire way.

Later on, while the brothers were on stage performing their set, Lilly, Oliver and I were back in the dressing room talking.

"Sooooo," I drawled. "What's going on between you and Joe?"

She made a face at me. "The same thing that's going on between you and Nick," she shot back.

"There's nothing going on between me an Nick!" I protested. I wanted there to be, but the boy was not cooperating. Even with the carrying me on stage thing…and sweet niblets, I was blushing again!

"Then there's nothing going on between me and Joe," Lilly said simply.

"Right," Oliver scoffed. "If there's nothing going on between you and Joe aand nothing going on between Miley and Nick, then there's something going on between me and Kevin."

"Why Ollie, I didn't know you swung that way!" Lilly teased.

"Yeah, why didn't you say so before? We don't judge," I added.

"You two are crazy," Oliver muttered sourly. Lilly and I laughed at him and there was a knock at the door.

"Hey Miles," daddy said, opening the door. "You're on in five!" Lilly, Oliver and I rushed to the wings of the stage and watched the Jonas Brothers perform their last song. As they left the stage and I entered, I saw Lilly run up and give Joe a hug. They'd only known each other a total of two days and they were already that close. It was weird but at the same time it was natural.

After the concert was over, the Jonases invited us over to their house for a late, late dinner and we accepted. The adults rode in the limo with daddy (and Frankie went with them, too), and the Jonases had taken their own van to the venue, so Kevin drove us back to their house. Oliver, Nick and I watched Lilly and Joe closely the entire time. Kevin just rolled his eyes at us. If Lilly and Joe noticed that we were watching them, they didn't show that they noticed. Instead, they were arguing about the merits of CVS versus Walgreens.

"CVS is way better. It's just three letters, like Joe!" Joe was saying.

"Yeah, but it's also three syllables. Walgreens is only two. And it has the word green in it. How is that not awesome?" Lilly defended. How did they even get on this subject? Sometimes I really did wonder about my friends…

We got to the house and followed Lilly and Joe inside. They were still arguing when we sat down at the table. It was Nick, Me, Lilly and Joe on one side, Kevin, Oliver, daddy and Frankie on the other and Mr. and Mrs. Jonas sat on the ends. I almost groaned out loud when I realized that Mrs. Jonas had made spaghetti. Lilly looked excited, though. Spaghetti's her favorite. I watched her eat and cringed.

"Lola," I whispered fiercely, elbowing her in the side..

"Whaa?" she asked, tilting her head, her mouth full of spaghetti. Eww…

"Can you please eat like normal human being? What is Joe going to think?" I said. Then I looked at Joe. He looked even messier than Lilly. "Never mind," I sighed. They really were perfect for each other.

We hung out for a little while. Joe decided that he wanted to play Cranium, so it was me, Nick and Oliver against Lilly, Kevin and Joe. My team won, but that might be because Lilly has the drawing/artistic ability of a five year old and Joe has the imagination of a toddler. For example, Lilly was trying to draw an ant farm and Joe guessed that it was a colony of evil space aliens making people dig tunnels under the ground. Yeah.

As we were leaving, Nick pulled me aside. "I wanted to talk to you about something…" he said quietly.

"Lola and Joe?" I asked, gesturing to where the two were talking by the door.

"No, about you and me."

"You…and me?" I swear my heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. Was he talking about what I hoped he was talking about?

"See…I was hoping-well, I want—do you—oh forget it!" he cried in exasperation. He put his arms around me and kissed me hard. Oh. This was definitely not what I was expecting. It was so much better. As I sank into the kiss, I barely registered the sounds of clapping and whistling. We pulled away from each other when air became absolutely necessary, and looked over at our friends to see them all smiling happily.

"Awwwww," they said in unison. I stuck my tongue out at them. Mature, I know.

"So I guess I was asking is…would you be my girlfriend?" Nick asked quietly.

"I'll treat you gooooooood," Joe sang. Lilly elbowed him in the stomach. "Ooof."

I looked at Nick and smiled. "Yes!" I said. I hear Lilly squeal happily and then burst into laughter (later I would learn that it was because Joe was tickling her). Nick put his arms around me and we talked for a few more minutes until daddy said it was time to go. Nick and I looked over at Joe and Lilly who were quietly talking.

"I meant to ask you this before, but…can I have your number?" he asked shyly. She nodded and gave it to him. "And can I call you sometime?"

She grinned cheekily. "What else are you going to do with it?" she teased.

"You know, sell it on ebay, give it to telemarketers, write a song about it…" He started singing. "Lola, I've got your numbeeeeeer!" I laughed as Lilly playfully punched him. His face turned serious. "So is that a yes, then?"

Lilly smiled. "That's a definite yes."

I snuggled into Nick's arms. We were all going to be happy. I could feel it.

**MSMSMSMSMS**

My heart clenched at Mr. Jonases words. _They don't know if she's going to make it_. _They don't think she's going to make it_. The words echoed in my head and I clung to Oliver. No. This couldn't be happening. How could this be happening? Lilly and Kevin…shot. It just wasn't possible.

Nick and I got the call as he was driving me home. I answered the phone and Mrs. Jonas was almost incoherent. I only managed to catch the fact that Lilly and Kevin were in the hospital. I somehow relayed that message to Nick they were at the Pacific Hospital of Long Beach but my mind was racing. What had happened? Were they okay?

We hadn't even left them fifteen minutes ago…we were just with them. The six of us had eaten dinner together, celebrating with them…and Joe-Oh my God, Joe. I wrenched myself away from Oliver and looked for him. I saw him and he was covered with blood. His parents hadn't said that he was hurt… God, it had to be Lilly's…Oliver put his arms back around me and I hung on to him like he was my lifeline. He sat down, and I sat with him, both of us completely shaken.

I watched as Nick approached him. He showed no signs of acknowledging his brother, but when Nick put his arms around him, he struggled like he was trying to get away. Nick wouldn't let go, though. He held on tightly and after a few moments, Joe stopped struggling. He crumpled in his brother's and sobbed. Oliver squeezed me tightly. I looked at him and saw the raw pain in his eyes. Lilly had been part of his life since preschool and now the prospect of losing her was tearing us both apart. I leaned into him and tightened my arms around him. I wanted to say something to comfort him, but nothing was coming out. It was like our world was ending, and we were helpless. We sat there, crying and silently praying, hoping that we wouldn't lose her.

Lilly's mom came frantically rushing into the waiting room, daddy and Jackson right behind her. Mr. and Mrs. Jonas got up to meet her. They slowly explained what was going on. Mrs. Jonas took her hand. I couldn't hear them, but I knew exactly when they told her that Lilly's life was on the line. Heather backed away shaking her head, trying to deny what was happening. She looked like she refused to believe it and for a moment I was right there with her. For a moment I thought that if maybe if we all just refused to believe that it happened, it wouldn't be true. It couldn't be true. But then I looked at Joe, still shaking in Nick's arms and covered with Lilly's blood and I couldn't deny the truth. My best friend, the sister of my heart, was fighting for her life. And there's nothing I could do about it.

I looked at Heather as she walked towards Joe. He shakily stood up and she embraced him, not caring that the blood on his suit was still wet.

"I'm sorry," Joe whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

Heather stroked his hair and murmured words of comfort to him, even as she cried herself.

"I couldn't save her," he whispered in agony. "Why couldn't I save her?"

It hurt, watching Joe break. And I broke right along with him.

**MSMSMSMSMS**

**So another dramatic ending. I hope you all liked it! Next chapter will probably be Kevin's point of view. Or maybe Oliver's. I haven't decided yet…**

**So please review and let me know if you love it or hate it. Reviews make me ridiculously happy. Constructive criticism is always welcome, but flames aren't really appreciated…**

**Thanks for reading!  
-v**


	3. Chapter 3: Oliver

**Here's chapter three! Thanks all for reading and reviewing! I'm sorry that I haven't had a chance to reply to everyone's reviews, but I'll try to, soon. I usually don't update this often (maybe once a week or so) but I'm really inspired right now. Plus this is more interesting than homework…**

**I hope everyone has a very blessed Easter!**

**If I owned the Jonas Brothers, I would totally make them sing to me every day on my way to class. But I don't…and I don't own Hannah Montana, either.**

**OOOOOOOO**

**Chapter 3: Oliver**

The first time Joe met Lilly, it was a disaster. Not literally. At least, I don't think so. It just wasn't good.

Sometimes it was really hard when both of your best friends were girls. Ever since that night we went to the Jonas house, all they wanted to talk about was Nick this and Joe that. As I sat in Miley's room and listened to them discuss the finer points of Nick's fro, I debated getting out of there. I could always go and talk to Jackson…nah. I decided to stay and just try to tune them out as much as possible. Instead, I lounged on Miley's bed and counted the posters she had of Nick. There were a lot. It was almost creepy…

I was snapped back to reality when I heard Miley say, "—tell Nick that Hannah Montana is also Miley Stewart."

"Whoa, what?" I exclaimed, sitting up straighter.

"Were you even listening to the conversation?" Lilly asked in exasperation.

I blinked at her. "No." She threw a pillow at me.

"I was saying," Miley said, annoyed. "That I think I need to tell Nick that Hannah Montana is also Miley Stewart."

"Oh." I blinked again. "Why?"

I thought I heard her mutter something that sounded suspiciously like "boy brain." I never did appreciate that one much…

"Whoops!" Lilly said as she looked at the time. "I gotta go. Joe's calling in ten minutes. You can explain to the doughnut over here what's going on." And with that, she was out the door.

"That girl is obsessed," I sighed, rolling my eyes at her as she left. Then I looked at Miley. "Never mind…you are, too." Miley just crossed her arms and glared at me. "What?"

"Anyway," she said after giving me a look (you know that, 'are we actually friends?' look. I get that one a lot…) "I think I'm going to tell Nick that I'm Hannah Montana… Or that Hannah Montana is me… Er…that Hannah and Miley are the same person. Ugh, you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do, but are you sure? You guys have only been going out for what? A month?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm not trying to dampen your enthusiasm or anything, but…don't you think it would be a better idea to wait a while? I mean, remember what happened after you wanted to end things with Jake? He didn't say anything about you being Hannah Montana, but he threatened to."

"Please," she said dismissively. "Jake was two years ago! And he's a much better person now. Anyway, Nick's different." She paused insecurely. "Nick is different, right?"

I smiled reassuringly. "I think he is. In any case, I like him better than I ever liked Jake. All I'm saying is that maybe you should wait a little longer…"

"I've thought about it," she sighed as she plopped next to me on her bed. "It's just, I'm afraid that if I wait too long to tell him, he'll hate me for it. What do you think?"

"I think you've got a point. When do you want to tell him? And what do you need me to do?" I wasn't being a jerk about it, but it seems like whenever Lilly or Miley had a plan, they needed me to do something. And I didn't mind, because that's what friends do.

"I'm thinking about inviting them to Malibu tomorrow? And I was hoping that you could meet them and show them around? Take them to the beach and stuff? And then I could meet up with you guys later?"

"Sure…but where will you be?"

"Rehearsing what I'm gonna say to Nick." I could tell she was nervous. I put my arm reassuringly around her shoulders and squeezed.

"Don't worry. The worst that could happen is that he could say that he hates you and never wants to see you again, then reveals your secret to the entire world," I said, trying to lighten the mood. Miley was not amused. I could tell because she pushed me off the bed. "KIDDING!"

"Jerk," she muttered, but she helped me up anyway and smiled.

The next day, I met the JoBros (yeah, Robby Ray's rubbed off on me) at Rico's. Luckily it was a slow day. A really slow day. We were the only ones there. Well, us and Rico. He was sitting with his elbows propped up on the counter and looking miserable. He was probably wondering where all his customers were. He perked up when he saw us. When he realized that the Jonas Brothers were there, it was pretty comical. He jumped up and his eyes widened so much they looked like they were taking up his entire face. His mouth dropped open, too.

After getting fawned over by Rico (I really needed to come down here with famous people more often…he was a lot nicer), we went down to the beach, which was also empty. Was there something special going on? There was a group of surfers down the beach, though. We chatted casually as we headed towards them. The group on the beach was all male (I recognized a lot of the guys Lilly and I surfed with), and they were all watching this one surfer on the water.

Oh crap. Lilly.

I forgot to tell Lilly that the Jonas Brothers were coming. Miley had asked me to do it last night as she was furiously trying to come up with a way to tell Nick her secret. And I forgot. Whoops…

But I did have to admit; she looked really good out there. There were a couple of other surfers out there, too, but she was definitely the best one. I could tell that Nick, Kevin and Joe were impressed, too. Their jaws were all dropped.

"That dude is awesome!" Joe exclaimed when Lilly finally wiped out.

"Aaaaaand not a dude," Kevin added, intrigued as he watched her walk out of the water.

"Whaaaa?" Joe did a double take. "That's a girl!" That earned him a smack on the head from Kevin. Nick just looked confused. Lilly mingled a bit with some of the other guy surfers, exchanged some high fives and walked closer to us.

"Hey Lills," I called, going to meet her halfway. "Looking good out there!"

"Thanks Ollie!" Crap. I could see the same thought flit across her face as she noticed my armpit hair goatee and the three boys behind me. "Who are your friends, _Mike?_" _And why didn't you tell me they were coming?_ At least, that's what the rest of the expression on her face seemed to ask.

Haha. Like I said…whoops.

"I'm Kevin," Kevin said, dodging around me to introduce himself. Um…what?

Joe was more casual in his greeting. It was simply, "Joe." There was a kind of dreamy look in his eyes. Almost like how he looked at Lilly when she was Lola.

"Lilly," she responded with a shy smile. "Lilly Truscott."

"And I'm Nick," Nick said finally. He still looked confused. "Why did you call him Ollie? I thought his name was Mike?"

Double crap. Both Lilly and I were terrible in these kinds of situations. Naming myself after a mic stand would be an example of this.

"I-uh-that is-because-" Wow, Oken. Reeeeeal smooth.

"It's because it's his favorite skateboarding trick. We skate together a lot and he just loves doing Ollies. Right, Mike?" Wow, over the past couple of years, she had gotten a lot better at this than I had.

"Er, right. That's exactly right."

She started talking again. "So Mi-" she cut herself of as she realized what she was about to say. Okay, so maybe she wasn't that good at the whole 'keeping identities secret' thing… "My good friend Hannah didn't mention that you guys were coming down." It sounded like a comment to the Jonas Brothers, I knew that it was one towards me.

_Sorry_, I mouthed to her. Out loud I said, "We're hanging out here with Hannah in about an hour if you want to come."

"Aright. I just need to get showered and dressed and stuff, but I'll be here. Make sure you let _Hannah_ know that _I'm_ coming."

"Will do!" I called out after her as she walked towards her house. Miley was definitely going to kill me. And so was Lilly. Shoot.

When Lilly left, the four of us just sat around and talked. Well, Kevin, Nick and I talked. Joe looked pensive and a little bit disturbed. I hope it wasn't about Lilly. Because if it was, that was not good.

Hannah finally came about an hour and a half later (late, as usual) and as she walked up behind me, she leaned down to whisper, "I am sooooo going to kill you." I swallowed hard. I knew it.

Kevin smiled at her. "You have pretty friends," he commented.

She smiled back at him. Her eyes widened and she looked at me. "I'm really going to kill you," she growled at me, and moved to greet Nick with a kiss. Ick.

Lilly came a few minutes later, dressed in some cargo shorts and a zip-up sweatshirt. Everyone said hi, but Joe ignored her. Lilly shot me a look but I just shrugged. She sat down next to me, and immediately Kevin moved next to her and started talking to Lilly and me. Joe wasn't actively participating in the conversation, but he always had something to say after Lilly said something. And it was usually pretty rude. It was like he was trying to show that he disliked her, but every time she turned away from him and Kevin touched her hand or her shoulder or something, he looked...jealous. And definitely wistful.

Oooooh, I see what his problem was; I know internal conflict when I see it. Joe really, really liked Lola, but he was also attracted to Lilly. A lot. And that made him feel like he was betraying Lola so his guilt was making him lash out at Lilly. Ha. Not bad for a boy brain. Thank you, psychology class.

But this was definitely a problem. Every time Joe said something and Lilly turned away, I could see the hurt in her eyes. This was not good. But since Lilly seemed determined to ignore this, I decided to follow her lead. But if he crossed the line, all bets were off.

Miley pulled Nick aside a little while later to go on a walk. When they got back, I saw that he looked thoughtful, but his arm was still around Miley, so that was definitely a good sign. His eyes widened as he heard Joe make a snide remark to Lilly. He tried interfering, to soften Joe's words, but Joe wouldn't back down. There was a lot of tension building up around our group.

I guess Kevin could sense it, too, because he suggested that we all get out of there and head to dinner. The tension didn't lessen, but at least we were up and doing something. Unfortunately, Joe didn't get any better at dinner. He may have been trying to act like he didn't like her, but apparently he couldn't stay away. He ended up sitting next to her. She was actually between Joe and Kevin, so that must have been awkward. It was definitely awkward for me, and I was only watching the whole thing.

And poor Kevin, he was trying so hard to impress Lilly. They talked really easily and comfortably (well, as comfortably as they could with Joe being a moron next to them), but she just wasn't interested in him. I felt bad for the guy, but I didn't know how to tell him that it was a useless endeavor.

"So what do you want to do after high school?" Kevin asked her.

Lilly thought about it for a moment. "Well, I definitely want to go to college. I don't want to go too far, so I'm just applying to UCLA, USC, and some other schools in SoCal."

"What do you want to major in?" Nick asked, curious.

"I'm not sure. I was thinking about marine biology, specializing in conservation because I love the ocean so much and I want to do my part to help protect it."

Joe scoffed beside her and she turned to glare at him. "Okay, what is your problem?"

He looked taken aback. I guess he hadn't expected her to yell at him. "What?" Wow, that was an intelligent answer.

"This entire day you have been nothing but rude to me, and I want to know what I did to offend you!" Lilly crossed her arms across her chest and waited.

Joe stuttered for a minute then finally answered. "I don't know. I guess there's something about you that I don't like." Oooh. Bad answer. Very bad answer. I could tell it was a lie. Nick could tell it was a lie. Miley could, too. The only one who couldn't was Lilly. And that's probably because she was so upset that she looked like she couldn't see anything. There were tears in her eyes as she got up and stormed away from the table. Kevin was right behind her, after sending Joe a glare. As for me, I couldn't believe Joe would hurt my best friend that way. Sure, he didn't realize that he was doing it, but loyalty was immune to reason, at least in my case.

"Nice going, loser," I snarled as I got up and hurried in the direction I saw Lilly and Kevin leave. I felt a little bad. Joe looked really upset and it looked like Miley and Nick were laying into him pretty good.

I stepped out of the restaurant in time to hear Kevin say, "I know that my brother was a jerk and I'm sorry. But we're not all like that."

"I know," Lilly responded with a sniffle.

"Just give me a chance to show you. Will you go out with me Saturday night?"

I saw Lilly stiffen. "Kevin, you're a really nice guy, but I'm kind of seeing someone."

"Kind of?"

"Yeah. We started…seeing each other a little while ago and I really thought it was going somewhere," she said, her voice breaking. Kevin came and put his arm around her. "But now I'm not so sure."

Crap.

**OOOOOOOO**

I sat in the waiting room, holding Miley. Nick was trying his best to console Joe and Heather, but I could tell he was barely keeping it together himself.

"Hey, Bud," I heard Robby Ray say to Miley. She got up and went to her dad, drawing the kind of comfort that only a father could give. As for me, I got up and walked over to look out a window.

I had been at dinner with Nick, Miley, Joe, Lilly, Kevin, Frankie and the Jonas parents. It was supposed to be a happy night. Nick and Miley left. He had to drop her off at home early. She was supposed to be at a Hannah thing early tomorrow. Kevin was supposed to drive his parents and Frankie home, but his car wouldn't start. I lived near the Jonases so I had offered to drive them home while Joe and Lilly offered to drop Kevin off at his apartment before Joe dropped off Lilly at home.

We were parked in two separate parking lots, so as the other Jonases and I went to my car in the other lot, Kevin, Joe and Lilly stayed. Mrs. Jonas realized that she had forgotten her purse, so we stopped back in the restaurant to get it. We were still inside when we heard the gunshots. Everyone in the restaurant dropped to the floor, afraid of what was happening. It was completely still for a moment. The gunshots stopped and there was silence. It was broken by an agonized cry of despair. Frankie was the one who realized it was Joe. He was out of the restaurant before anyone could stop him. The older Jonases and I ran out behind him. He stopped as we came to the lot that Joe had been parked in and looked horrified at the sight that met his eyes. Joe was there, cradling Lilly in his arms. She was pale and unmoving; she looked fragile and Joe looked shattered. There was blood everywhere. Her blood, his blood, both…we didn't know. We couldn't move. Kevin was kneeling near them, his arm bleeding profusely and a cell phone in his hand. I heard the sound of sirens and realized that he had called 911. We watched as the ambulance took them away, and then rushed to the hospital. By the time we got there, Joe was already in the waiting room. They wouldn't let him stay with her.

"What happened?" I had asked him. But he wouldn't speak. He wouldn't speak to anyone. Not to his parents, not to his brother. The only sign of emotion he showed at all was when Nick came up to him.

I turned away from the window and took a breath. Lilly would make it. I had to make myself believe that or I wouldn't be able to think, to move, to breathe. If she didn't make it, I didn't know what I would do. She was my best friend. She's always been my best friend. Since pre-school. And nineteen years of knowing each other wouldn't change that. And I'd be damned if some random criminal off the street was going to change that. I looked at Nick, Heather and Joe sitting near each other and trying to be strong. I looked at Mr. Jonas rocking Mrs. Jonas in his arms, Jackson sitting off by himself and looking pensive, Miley sobbing in her dad's arms. But where was Frankie?

A doctor came out and everyone straightened.

"Mr. and Mrs. Jonas?" he asked. The couple stood.

"Yes?" Mr. Jonas said.

"Your son is awake, and he'd like to speak to you." There was a sigh of relief throughout the room. "He's weak, though, and he might not be able to stay up long." The Jonases nodded and followed the doctor to Kevin's room. Immediately the tension was back. We were all glad that Kevin was awake, but with Lilly's life on the line, it was hard to be happy for long.

I decided I should go look for Frankie. I had a feeling I knew where he might be. I walked into a hallway that looked deserted and I saw him there slumped against the wall, crying. I should have known. He was really close to both Kevin and Lilly.

He immediately jumped to his feet when he saw me and wiped at his eyes.

"Hey, Frank J," I greeted.

"Hey," he whispered. At fourteen, he looked so much like Nick when he was a teenager that it was almost scary. "I just had to –uh-I was just- you know-I-"

"It's okay to let people see you cry, you know," I said quietly. The boy stiffened. "And it's okay to be scared. I'm scared. Nick's scared. Your dad is scared."

"Joe is, too," he added sadly.

"Yeah. Joe is, too." We stood in silence. "Kevin's awake. He's going to be okay."

He looked relieved, but then the fear and sorrow was back in his eyes. "What about Lilly?"

"We don't know yet." There was another silence. "She's going to be okay, though," I said with a confidence I desperately wanted to feel. He sat back down and I sat with him.

"You can't know that."

"No, no I can't. But I can hope. And you can, too. She's strong, you know. Did you know that when she was first learning to skateboard, she fractured her ribs?"

Frankie gave a choked laugh. "Yeah. She told me when I wanted her to teach me."

"And she went around for three weeks without telling anybody because she didn't want her mom to make her stop trying. So not only is she strong, but she's stubborn, too. She won't let this beat her."

The teenager nodded and took a deep breath. "She's going to be okay."

And as we sat together in the deserted hallway, we believed it. We had to believe it.

**OOOOOOOO**

**So, this time the first part wasn't as fluffy, but the second part was more positive. So yay? More and more details are being revealed, but just so you know, the full details of the shooting won't be revealed until Kevin's memories of that night. Which won't be for another few chapters…**

**But please review and let me know what you think! If you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them. Constructive criticism is awesome, but flames make me a sad panda. And no one likes sad pandas.**

**Thanks for reading!  
-v**


	4. Chapter 4: Kevin

**Chapter 4: In which Joe finds out that Lola is, in fact, Lilly.**

**Thanks again for all the reviews, I know I haven't replied to any of them, but I will soon. Updates will definitely be less frequent after this (I've been on a small break all weekend since I've been out of school since early Thursday, but it's back to the grind tomorrow). **

**The Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana don't belong to me. Sad.**

**KJKJKJKJKJKJ**

**Chapter 4: Kevin**

When Joe found out the Lola was Lilly, he was kind of a wreck. He realized that he had kind of screwed up. Although it wasn't completely his fault, it didn't change the fact that he made a mess of things. Butt hey, we're guys. It's what we do.

It had been a couple of weeks after we met Lilly. I couldn't stop thinking about her. I knew she was thinking of someone else, but I couldn't help thinking about her. That might also have been because Nick wouldn't stop talking about her.

Except, not to me. Every time I saw Nick and Joe together, Nick was talking to him about Lilly. About how he should have been nicer, how he should get her number from Hannah and apologize, how he still had a chance to be…Nick would always stop mid-sentence whenever saw me, so I never knew exactly what he was going to say.

I was a little confused. I thought Nick knew that I liked Lilly, so why did he keep talking about her? I knew he always hated it when I talked about girls that had burned him. Well, Lilly hadn't exactly _burned_ me, but I was still kind of sad about her not wanting to date me.

For his part, Joe didn't want to talk about Lilly, which was good because I was still a little mad at him for treating her the way he did. All he wanted to talk about was Lola. Apparently there was trouble in their dating/not dating paradise. Seriously. No one knew if they were officially dating. I didn't know, Nick didn't know, Hannah didn't know, and apparently Joe didn't either.

"She's just been so distant. Like, we used to talk every day and now I'm lucky if she'll answer my calls. And when she does, she'll talk for a few minutes and then make up some lame excuse about why she can't stay on the phone. She rarely answers my texts or returns my calls. I don't know what I did wrong…" We were sitting in our living room, lounging on the couches and just hanging out.

"Maybe she's just really busy? It can probably get hectic being Hannah Montana's friend…" I suggested.

"And yet Hannah still manages to find time to talk to Nicky here every night," Joe said gesturing towards Nick. A thought occurred to him. "What if she found someone else? What if she's dating that Mike guy?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Does Lola seem like the kind of girl that would do that to you?"

"No," he admitted. "But I just don't understand why she'd just stop talking to me. I thought we were going somewhere. I mean there's just this connection between us. Or I thought there was…"

I felt so bad for him. He just looked so torn up over the whole Lola thing. I tried to cheer him up. "We'll be seeing them tonight. Maybe you can talk to her about it then?" We were doing another concert with Hannah, this time in Santa Monica. Since Lola and Mike were usually there, Joe could definitely try to corner her tonight.

"Kevin, you're the romantic one. What should I do to try to win her back?"

It was Nick who answered. "Maybe you can apologize to Lilly."

"What does Lilly have to do with any of this?" I asked. And why was Nick so insistent on Joe apologizing to Lilly?

"Do the math. Lola's good friends with Hannah and Mike, Lilly's good friends with Hannah and Mike…" I saw his point, but there also seemed to be something else that maybe Nick was hinting at. I just didn't get it.

"So you think Lola and Lilly are close friends?" I asked.

Nick muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, "Closer than you think." I wasn't sure though. Nick could be so strange sometimes. He started speaking again. "Maybe you can just call Lilly up and apologize– Miley would be more than happy to give you her number."

Joe and I looked at each other, and then looked at him. "Who's Miley?" Joe asked.

"Did I say Miley?" Nick winced and slapped his forehead. Repeatedly "Er…I'll be right back." He jumped to his feet, pulled out his cell phone and ran to the hallway. I couldn't make out what he was saying but he sounded apologetic and panicked.

"Your little brother is weird," I told Joe. He grinned at me.

"Yeah, so's my older brother." Nick came back in a minute later.

He looked a little nervous. "So I have a little something to tell you. It's about Hannah." I was pretty floored when Nick was done with his explanation.

"So does that mean that Lola and Mike are aliases, too?" Joe asked.

Nick hesitated. "You're going to have to ask them yourselves."

We got the chance to later, when we were in concert venue in Santa Monica. We got there first, as usual and were sitting backstage waiting. Hannah came in a little while later, followed by Mike and a very reluctant looking Lola. Her eyes brightened when she saw Joe, but they dimmed again pretty quickly.

Joe noticed, too. You could just see his heart sink. I really did feel bad for my brother. I watched Nick walk up to Hannah…or Miley…or…whatever. I watched him walk up to his girlfriend and give her a kiss. He whispered something to her, probably an apology for spilling her secret. Oh young love. And speaking of young love…

Joe awkwardly walked up to Lola and gave her a hug. They were both stiff and looked nervous, not at all like how they usually were with each other. Geez, what was with her? Lola was a cool girl and all, but she had no right to treat my brother like that! I was about to go say something to her when Mike stopped me.

"They need to work this out on their own," he said. I sighed. I guess he was right. But that didn't mean I had to like it. He and I sat down to watch the show.

"So I know Hannah has a secret identity. Does Lola have one, too?" he tried to joke. I didn't think she could get any stiffer, but I was totally wrong. And beside me, Mike tensed, too.

"Yeah, I do," she "But I don't think you'd like her." There was a niggling feeling in my mind that there was some connection that I was missing but I couldn't figure out what it was.

"I'd like you however you are," Joe said sincerely. He definitely meant it. I'd never seen him this serious.

"No, no you wouldn't." She turned away from him and I saw the sadness in her eyes. If she was so upset, why was she doing this to him? I asked Mike, but he just shushed me.

"Lo, I don't know what's going on but please, whatever I did, I'm really sorry."

"I know. And I'm sorry, too." Joe's shoulders sagged in relief.

"Then will you go out with me tomorrow night?" I knew that it took a lot of courage for him to ask, and he held his breath as he waited for her answer.

She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm sorry, Joe. I can't do this anymore."

"What?" Joe's whispered question was exactly how I was feeling watching them. I didn't get it. They were getting along so well before and then this…

She turned to face him. "This—this pseudo relationship thing or whatever we have. I meant to tell you this before, but I thought you deserved to hear it in person. So…I'm sorry."

"I don't get it!" he cried out in frustration. He looked hurt, confused, upset. "I thought you liked me. You know I really like you!"

"I know that you think you do. But you can't have a relationship with someone when they don't like part of who you are. It's not fair to you, and it isn't fair to me, either."

"But I like all of you! Secret identity or not, I like you," Joe pleaded. He tried to take her hand in his but she pulled away.

"No, no you don't. You like Lola. You like the girl with the colorful hair and funky clothes but you don't like _me_. You even told me so." It started to click then. Nick's hint. Lola's hint. Oh my…

"I don't understand," Joe whispered.

"My real name is Lilly Truscott." And she ran out. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I saw tears in her eyes. Mike was right behind her, probably to make sure that she'd be okay.

Joe just stood there numbly. Nick and Hannah (I had a hard time thinking of her as Miley) walked up behind me.

"What just happened?" she asked.

"Joe just found out that Lola is Lilly," I answered. She looked around for Lilly and when she didn't see her, she made as if to leave but I stopped her. "Mike went out after her. I know it's a little callous, but sound check is in a few minutes and you need to stay here." She nodded mutely and pulled out her cell phone, probably trying to call Lola/Lilly.

Joe walked over and sat down next to me, still uncomprehending. "What did I just do?

Nick sat down next to him, and put an arm around him. "Do you want to tell us why you didn't like Lilly?"

"That was the problem," Joe answered. "I did." He threw me an apologetic look, but I just shook it off. "I felt really drawn to her, but I didn't want to screw things up with Lola and so I just pushed her away. God, if only I shouldn't have told her there was something about her that I didn't like. Now she thinks I can't like Lilly and this is just so screwed up!"

I didn't know what to say to him. But I had a pretty good idea of what to say to Lola.

We had to do our set, first, and it was obvious that Joe was a little off his game. He tried his best, but he kept forgetting the words and sometimes he just stopped singing altogether. It was a relief when it was over. Nick walked with Joe back to the dressing room, most likely talking about Lola.

I went to go find her. She was outside the back entrance, sitting on the stairs. Mike was sitting next to her and he looked up when I opened the door. He nodded at me and got up, leaving me alone with Lola.

"So you were kind of seeing someone, huh?" I asked lightly. Looking at her and knowing that she was Lilly, I felt a surge of attraction but I tamped it down. She wasn't meant for me. But I did have a feeling that she was meant for Joe.

"Yeah, I was. But I guess not anymore." She didn't even look up at me. She just sat there with her arms wrapped around her knees and staring forward.

"But you could still be seeing him if you wanted to be," I said sitting down next to her. "He still wants to be seeing you."

Lola laughed mirthlessly. "Right. He hates Lilly. And he probably hates Lola now that he's found out that she's Lilly. Or that I'm Lilly. Or—you know what I mean."

I bumped her lightly with my shoulder. "He likes you, whoever you happen to be, and I know that it's tearing him apart thinking that he's lost his chance with you."

She didn't say anything to that, but I hoped I was getting through to her.

"Tell me one thing," I requested. "Do you like him?"

"Yes, but—" I cut her off.

"Just leave it at that. That should be enough."

"How is it enough if I like him but he doesn't like me?" she demanded. She looked at me and I saw tears in her eyes again.

"But he does. He was lying when he said he didn't. I should tell you that he felt really drawn to Lilly. But he felt guilty for it because of Lola, so he tried to push Lilly away." I took her hand and squeezed it. "He really does like you. Both sides of you."

"Really?" she sniffled.

"Really. And I think you should let him have the chance to tell you." I got up and pulled her to her feet. "Let's go." I led her to our dressing room where Nick was still talking with Joe. They fell silent when they saw us.

"We'll just leave you two alone," Nick said, getting up from where he was sitting next to Joe. The two of us walked out of the dressing room and I was closing the door when Nick stopped me from closing it all the way. "Shh," he whispered and he crouched down and peeped through the crack. I was tempted to close the door on him but I wanted to see what happened, too, so I copied him.

I saw him stand up and the two awkwardly stared at each other for a moment.

"I'm sorry," she said softly taking a step towards him. "And if the offer still stands, I would love to go out with you tomorrow. Actually, no." She paused and calmed herself. "Joe Jonas, would you please go out with me tomorrow night?"

There was a long silence, but then Joe walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. He pulled off her wig and her blonde hair tumbled down her back. "Yes," he whispered into her hair. "And I'm sorry, too. Just know that whether you're Lola or Lilly, I want to be with you." He placed a soft kiss on the top of her head and just held her.

Nick and I crept away quietly. When we came back later to get Joe for the last song, they were still there, holding each other. And for them, in that moment, it was enough.

**KJKJKJKJKJ**

I lay in the bed, my head still groggy and unclear. There was a throbbing pain in my arm. Why did it hurt and why was it in a sling? Oh yeah, I'd been shot. Well, that sucked. The door opened and people entered, talking in hushed voices.

"Don't stay too long," a voice was saying. "He's still weak."

A couple approached my bedside. My parents.

"Hi mommy," I said weakly.

"Oh honey!" she cried, grabbing at my hand. "I'm just so glad you're okay!"

"How's Lilly? No one will tell me." My parents exchanged a look and I felt a rising panic in my chest. She wasn't dead, was she? "How is she?"

"She's still in surgery," Dad answered. I felt relieved. "But they don't know if she'll make it."

I closed my eyes and held back tears. I thought back to the shooting. I could remember bits and pieces of it. The shooter sneaking up and hitting Joe over the head, standing in front of Lilly, Lilly trying to calm the guy down, that piercing pain in my arm and falling to the ground, more shots…I felt my eyelids drooping.

"How's Joe holding up?" Another worried look.

"He has Heather with him," Mom said. "They're coping."

"You'll let me know if anything changes?" I asked. It was getting harder to stay awake.

"We will. We're glad you're okay, sweetie." She leaned over and kissed my forehead.

"I'm sorry," I whispered as I sunk into oblivion. I woke up later and there was no one in the room. I thought about Lilly and Joe. God, he must be a wreck right now. And I hated being in here by myself, not knowing what was going on. I made a decision. I pressed the call button for the nurse and waited.

"I need to be with my family," I said when she came in.

"Mr. Jonas, you need to rest," she started to say but I cut her off. I may have been week, but I was still stubborn.

"I need to be with my family," I insisted. She looked at me a moment, nodded and left. She came back a few minutes later with a wheelchair. She helped me in and wheeled me out to the waiting room.

"Kevin, what are you doing?" mom shouted.

"I'm waiting to hear about Lilly." I asked the nurse to wheel me towards Joe, who looked haunted and tense. He wasn't crying now, but he had been. He looked almost as weak as I felt. He sat up as I neared him.

"Kevin, you need to be in bed," he said quietly.

"No, I need to be out here," I answered. I reached out and grabbed his hand with my good one.

He needed to be strong, and I needed to be there for him.

So we sat there in the waiting room, hands clasped, and waited.

**KJKJKJKJKJ**

**So there's chapter four! Next chapter will be their first date! Yay! Um, I don't really have anything else to say, which is weird…**

**Oh! I would totally loved it if you guys reviewed. To ask questions, tell me how I'm doing story/writing-wise, or make suggestions. So please review and let me know what you guys think! Constructive criticism is awesome and flames make me a sad panda. And no one likes sad pandas.**

**Thanks for reading!  
-v**

**(p.s I'm writing another Loe story called "Just a Dream," just in case anyone is looking for something else to read. And thanks again for reading this story!)**


	5. Chapter 5: Miley

**Chapter 5: In which Joe and Lilly go on their first date!**

**Sorry again for such a long delay in updates, to this story especially. I know I've explained this in other chapters and other stories, but I've had finals/preparing for finals and packing/moving out of my dorm and getting ready for a trip to New Zealand all in the last couple of months and life has just been crazy hectic. But I'm back with this chapter so I hope you all enjoy it! Sorry if it seems a little rushed! I really just wanted to update this story as soon as possible…There's really no telling when I'll be able to update again, but I'll try to soon-ish.**

**Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry I haven't had a chance to reply to all (i.e. **_**any**_**) of them, but I just want you guys to know that I appreciate all the reviews/favorites/alerts a lot!**

**I still haven't managed to acquire the rights to the Jonas Brothers/Hannah Montana. But I'm working on it. And when I say working on it, I mean I'm not.**

**MSMSMSMSMS**

**Chapter 5: Miley**

The first time Lilly went on a date with Joe, she was so nervous she almost canceled it.

"Oh my God. Oh my God. What am I doing?"

I just rolled my eyes at my best friend. Seriously? All she'd been able to talk about last night was Joe. All she had been able to talk about this morning was Joe. And _now_ she was freaking out about it? Well, this _was_ Lilly…

She was currently standing in my bedroom, freaking out about…well, everything. Hair, make-up, clothing, toothpaste brand… yeah. A pile of discarded clothes lay at her feet. Makeup was scattered across my vanity, and a curling iron and hair straightener were ready at a moment's notice and still she was having a hard time getting ready.

She had probably tried on

"I can't do this," she suddenly exclaimed.

"Yes, you can," I insisted, dragging her into the Hannah closet. I began to dig through more clothes. She had already gone through all of her own clothes and the normal Miley clothes, so all that was left was the Hannah stuff.

"What if he doesn't like me?" she began pacing frantically.

I turned to look at her incredulously. "Honey, he likes you fine. Now stop that, you're making me dizzy." She abruptly stopped and plopped herself on a seat. "Thank you. Now I can think." I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed. This was going to be impossible. I sighed and turned around to renew my search when…

There it was. Just hanging there. It was beautiful. It was perfect. And it totally didn't belong in the Hannah closet, but whatever. That didn't matter. It was a simple yellow sundress with spaghetti straps. There were no frills or adornments so that kept it simple enough for Lilly, but at the same time the fact that it was a dress, not something Lilly usually wore, added a hint of Lola. It was perfect for Lilly's date. I grabbed it and gave it to Lilly.

"Go try this on," I told her.

She looked at me quizzically. "A dress?" she asked. I gave her a looks. "Okay, okay. I'm putting it on."

Lilly quickly changed into it and went to look at herself in the mirror. She looked cute.

"I have to admit," she said, looking back at me. "I kinda like it. But do you think it's very…me?"

I came up to stand next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. "It's very you. It fits both sides of you. Like you have…" I trailed off, unsure of how to explain.

"Like I have the best of both world?" my best friend asked wryly with a quirk of her lips.

I shoved her playfully. "Exactly. Aaaand," I started, turning back to the racks of clothes looking for something. "Here. If you get cold." I held out a simple, white zip-up hoodie. A sweater would have been too girly for Lilly, but a hoodie was perfect.

She quickly shrugged it on and looked at the time. It was 6:50 and Joe would be here soon. I saw panic cross Lilly's face once again. "Oh my gosh, what shoes am I going to wear? How am I going to do my hair? How should I do my make-up? What-" I stopped her rambling by placing a hand over her mouth.

"Lilly, breathe." She did as she was told. "Okay. So we're going to leave your hair down and straighten it a little, you'll wear flip-flops and really simple make-up. And if we're going to do this in time I'm gonna need you to stay calm. Okay?" She didn't answer. "Okay?" I prompted again. Suddenly I felt a spot of wetness on my hand. "Eww!"

"You had your hand on my mouth. How was I supposed to answer?" she demanded as I pulled my hand away. We quickly got to work and at approximately 6:58, my doorbell rang.

"Oh gosh, he's early. He's early, and I don't know if I'm ready yet or –" Lilly looked like she was about to freak again but I put my hands on her shoulders to stop her.

"I'll get that. You calm down." She nodded and I ran downstairs to open the door. It was Nick. He smiled at me sheepishly. "Hi. Where's Joe?"

"He made me come with him for moral support. And now he's freaking out by the car. Do you mind if I hang here with you while they're on their date?" he asked. I gestured for him to come in and greeted him with a hug and a kiss. And another kiss. And another kiss…

"Geez, can't you guys wait until Lilly and I are gone?" Joe asked playfully, walking up to the door.

I smiled at him. "Hi, Joe. Nervous?" I asked him, pulling away from Nick.

"Pssh, me, nervous? Do I look like the kind of guy who gets nervous?" Arching an eyebrow, I merely stared at him and he grinned ruefully. "Okay, so maybe I'm a _little_ nervous. Where's Lilly?"

"She'll be down in a second." No sooner had the words left my mouth did she come walking down the stairs and to the door.

"Hi Joe," she said softly.

"Wow, you're pretty." Joe's mouth was practically hanging open and his eyes were almost glazed over.

"Is that what I looked and sounded like the first time I met you?" Nick whispered to me. I giggled a little and nodded.

"Worse," I whispered back. Nick cringed and put his arm around me.

Lilly and Joe just ignored us. They were too busy staring at each other.

"You look nice," Lilly told him.

The older boy blushed but smiled brightly. "Thanks," he said. "You look nice, too." They stared at each other shyly. It was so adorable! Well, for the first few minutes anyway…when it looked like Joe and Lilly weren't going to say anything else, it started to get a little awkward. Nick and I exchanged glances and he rolled his eyes.

"Okay, you two," my boyfriend said, interrupting the silence. The other couple looked up at him. "Don't you two have to get going?"

Joe and Lilly looked at each other and smiled shyly. With an exaggerated bow, Joe held out his arm for her. "Shall we go, mademoiselle?"

Lilly giggled as she looped her arm in his. "We shall." And they were out the door.

I leaned into Nick's side and sighed. "They are just so cute together."

"Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen Joe this stressed about a date. It was actually pretty funny."

"If they're that stressed out about before the date, it would be hilarious to see them _during_ –" I broke off as an idea came to mind. "Nick, did Joe tell you where he was taking Lilly?"

"Yeah, I think they're going to that miniature golf place that opened a couple of months ago."

I smiled. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Nick looked confused. "No, I don't think so. Unless you're thinking about nachos. Can we get some nachos?"

I looked at him. It was another one of those "Jonas moments" that made me just want to shake my head at him. But he was cute, so I let it slide. "No. I was thinking that we should follow them and make sure everything goes alright."

"Oooooh…Can we still get nachos?" Nick asked brightly.

"Let's go." Rolling my eyes at him, I grabbed his arm and dragged him out the door.

"So that means no nachos?"

I drove us over to the miniature golf course, since Nick had gotten a ride to my house with Joe and the older boy had taken the car. When we got to the course, we snuck past the front desk and looked for Lilly and Joe.

"Oh look!" Nick cried excitedly. "There they are!"

With a frustrated growl, I elbowed him in his side. "Shh! Do you want them to hear us?"

Rubbing his side, he grimaced. "That hurt," he grumbled and looked over at Joe and Lilly. They were at the second hole and it was Joe's turn though it didn't look like he was having much success with it. It was one of the simpler holes, but Joe was having serious trouble. Every time he hit the ball, it either only went a few inches or he hit it too hard and it bounced around like crazy. After about ten tries, Joe finally got the ball in and he raised his arms in celebration. Lilly giggled and gave him a congratulatory hug.

"Your turn," he said brightly. Placing her ball in the teeing-off area, Lilly took a deep breath and swung her putter. The ball bounced off the borders but dropped in right away.

"Beginner's luck," Joe dismissed playfully, pretending to pout. I laughed out loud as Lilly punched Joe on the arm. The two of them turned abruptly, and I grabbed Nick and pulled him behind a giant chicken statue that was decorating the course.

"Was that—Miley?" I heard Lilly ask, clearly puzzled.

"It kinda sounded like her, but maybe we're just seeing things," Joe responded. "Ready for the next hole?"

"Yes, sir!" Lilly exclaimed. I peeked around the statue in time to see Joe grab Lilly's hand as they walked to the next one.

"Aww, they look so cute!" Nick exclaimed loudly, also peeking around the statue. Joe and Lilly whirled around and I pulled Nick back behind the statue.

"Okay, now I know I'm hearing things…I thought I heard Nick." From the sound of Joe's voice, it seemed like the other couple was getting closer. Uh-oh.

But then I heard Lilly say, "I'm sure you were just imagining it…let's go!" After a few seconds, I peeked around the chicken again and saw Lilly pulling Joe along behind her.

"Way to go, slick! You almost got us caught!" I scolded.

"And you didn't?" he demanded. He had a point there, but I wasn't going to admit it.

"Well we just need to be more careful, then. Sweet niblets!" Looking around, I realized that they had left us behind (sure, they didn't know we were following, but still!) and we (stealthily) hurried to the next hole.

It was absolutely adorable, watching Joe and Lilly play. Lilly was so good at it and Joe was trying to be good at it, but wasn't quite succeeding…so it was absolutely hilarious when halfway through the course, Joe casually said, "You know, I can teach you how to putt, if you want."

Aww! And Lilly, of course, didn't get it. "Thanks, but I already know how," was her confused response. I slapped by forehead. Nick clapped his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud, and Joe looked dejected.

They stood in awkward silence for a few moments until Joe finally broke it. "You know, that was a ploy to try to get closer to you."

"Oh," Lilly said. Then her eyes lit up in recognition. "OH! In that case, then yes!"

Joe looked really excited and put his arms around her from behind. Because he couldn't see her face, he didn't realize that all the instructions he was giving her were wrong. I could tell, however, and Lilly bit her lip trying to decide whether or not she should tell him because obviously she was enjoying the feel of his arms around her.

Apparently she decided to say something. "Are you sure that the putter should be held this way? Maybe it would be better to hold it like this?" Gently, she repositioned her hands. "That way, when you swing, the putter is less likely to hit you over the head."

Lilly couldn't see Joe's blush. "Oh. I mean, I knew that. I was just testing your putting knowledge. And so…" He went on about how some made-up miniature golf guru had taught him the game the way he was teaching Lilly now. "And that's what's made me the amazing miniature golfer that I am today."

I rolled my eyes at him. Nick just cracked up beside me, and then cried out in pain as I elbowed him. Regardless of the effectiveness of Joe's golf lesson, the date still went exceptionally well. Loe (as I had started thinking of Lilly and Joe in my head) were really comfortable with each other, finding any excuse to touch or hug and they both laughed at each other's jokes, no matter how lame (and with Loe, the jokes were reeeeeeeaally lame). And it was really adorable when Joe stuck up for Lilly when someone yelled at her to hurry up and take her shot already. Sure, the kid was all of eight years old, but the fact that he stood up for her was sweet.

When the two finished the course (Lilly won) the two were holding hands and walking out to his car. Nick and I were trying desperately to follow them without being seen.

"I let you win!" Joe was joking in mock indignation.

"Let me win? Keep telling yourself that, Jonas," Lilly scoffed.

"I did!"

"Whatever. Next time, we'll do something that _you're_ good at, and I can say that I let _you_ win," she said with a laugh.

Tilting his head and glancing at her, Joe grinned. "Next time? Is there going to be a next time?"

"Are you not planning on asking me out again?" she teased.

"Oh, I definitely am. I was just going to make you wait. Didn't want to seem to eager, you know. I'm kind of a big deal." I rolled my eyes at my boyfriend's brother. He had such a weird sense of humor…

"Good," Lilly responded. "I had fun tonight."

"Me too. It was fantabulorific," he agreed.

She giggled. "Yes. It was fantabulorific."

"And also not over," he added.

"Huh?"

"Just come with me!" Grabbing her hand, the two ran to their car.

I turned to Nick in panic. "Where are they going?"

"I don't know! Joe didn't tell me this part!" Nick exclaimed. "Let's go follow them!" We tried to trail them as unobtrusively as possible, but we had no clue where we were going. About fifteen minutes later, we found ourselves on the beach, hiding behind a lifeguard shack watching Loe laying back in the sand stargazing. They were cuddled up against one another and Lilly's head was resting on Joe's shoulder.

"And that star over there," Joe was saying, pointing at the sky. "Is Betelgeuse. The armpit of Orion."

Lilly laughed. "You're making that up!"

"Nope. See look at those stars…there's Orion's belt, and if you trace those stars you can see his body and his arms. And where Betelgeuse is, that's his armpit."

"How do you know?"

"Astronomy is kind of a hobby of mine. It's peaceful." That was a surprising admission coming from Joe. Nick looked surprised, too. This soothing side of Joe was something that neither of us saw very often.

It looked as if Lilly was studying Joe. "I never would have expected it. But I like it. Oh! Is that one the North Star? It's the brightest one, right?"

Joe turned to look at her. "Yeah, that's the brightest, but that isn't the North Star. That's actually Sirius. The dog star."

"Whatever it is, it's beautiful," she said with a sigh.

"You're beautiful," he whispered. And even though it was such a corny line, the look he was giving her (at least, from what Nick and I could see from our angle, was so sweet and so…deep. Lilly turned to him and smiled. Slowly they leaned in towards each other.

Joe was going to kiss Lilly! Lilly was going to kiss Joe! I was so excited that—an excited squeal interrupted the moment and it took me a sec to realize that it was me.

Both Joe and Lilly sat up, laughing. "Okay Miley, Nick, you can come out now!" Lilly called out. Nick and I exchanged a look. How did she—

"We're not stupid, you know," Joe continued, standing and holding out a hand to Lilly to help her up. "We know you guys have been following us all night." Nick and I apologetically walked over to them.

"Sorry," I said. "But we were just so curious about how the whole date thing was gonna go and we didn't think you were gonna see us so—"

Joe's laugh cut me off. "Don't worry about it."

Silence filled the air.

"So how was the date?" Nick finally asked.

Joe looked at Lilly as he put an arm around her shoulders. "I don't know…I would have to go with 'best first date ever.'"

Another squeal pierced the air. Oh. That was me again. But who cared? Maybe I've mentioned this before, but they were so cute together!

"What do you think, Lil?" Joe asked her with a grin.

"I'd have to agree," she answered, leaning into his side. "Definitely the best first date ever."

**MSMSMSMSMS**

It had been hours since Nick and I had gotten to the hospital, but it felt like an eternity. We didn't know what was going on, nobody could tell us anything, and that was the worst part. The not knowing. What was taking so long?

I looked over at Oliver, who paced furiously, as if not quite sure what to do with himself. Frankie was nearby, fighting a losing battle against fatigue. He was desperately trying to stay awake but his head kept lolling forward, only to snap up again, his eyes filled with fear and sadness. Kevin had already lost his fight against sleep. The nurse who had rolled him into the waiting room had a hospital bed brought out for him, and he was sleeping quietly there. At his bedside Mrs. Jonas, holding on to Kevin's hand like a lifeline, torn between relief that her son was okay and anxiety over Lilly's condition. Heather was lying down across a set of chairs, her head on my dad's lap. He had wanted her to get some rest and save her strength, but her eyes were still wide open and she was holding on to one of my dad's hands for dear life. Jackson had gone to get them both coffee.

Beside me, Nick sat quietly holding on to me, and the two of us drew comfort from one another. In the seats directly across from us was Joe. He sat there stoically, still in his bloody clothes, refusing to leave the waiting room even for a minute to go change into something clean (the nurses had offered him a set of scrubs, but he mutely shook his head, refusing them). In fact, Joe hadn't said a word since Kevin had come out to the waiting room a couple of hours ago. Mr. Jonas was sitting beside his second son, trying to offer what comfort and hope that he could. It seemed that with every passing hour, what little hope Joe had had in him was slipping away. And reading that all over his face, hope was slowly starting to drain in me.

"She has to make it," I whispered, not realizing that I had said it out loud. Nick squeezed my shoulder in response, unwilling or unable to say anything. "What's taking so long?" I practically screamed in frustration and jumped from my seat. "I can't take this waiting anymore! We have to know! We have to go ask them about her! We have to know!"

Nick pulled me back to my seat and tried to calm me down. "We have to know," I insisted, softer this time. "She has to be alright. She has to make it. She has to make it." I repeated it over and over again, panic welling up within me. She had been in surgery so long and there was no news, we didn't know anything and it was terrifying.

Just then a doctor approached us. "Lilly Truscott's family?" he asked. Joe and Heather scrambled to their feet and hurried towards him. Frankie sat up straighter, Oliver stopped pacing, Mrs. Jonas gently shook Kevin awake and Jackson stopped at the entrance of the waiting room, two cups of coffee in his hands.

Joe and Heather looked at him expectantly, Heather reaching for Joe's hand for support—for both of them. "How is she?" Joe asked, his voice hoarse from disuse and emotion.

"There were some complications with the surgery. It took us a lot longer to remove the bullets from her stomach than we had anticipated, but she's in stable condition right now. We expect her to make a full physical recovery."

I let out a happy exclamation and turned to hug Nick and Heather sagged against Joe's side in relief. She was okay. She was alive, and she was going to be okay. Joe, however, was a little more reserved, as if unable to comprehend what the doctor had said.

"You said there were some complications…" Joe stated carefully.

The doctor tensed. "Yes. The nature of her head wound is hard to predict. Coupled with the fact that she was under anesthesia for so long, there's no predicting when she might wake up. Or if she will at all."

**MSMSMSMS**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Hopefully more will be coming out soon, but I go to New Zealand next week and there's no telling when I'll have Internet/time to upload or write new chapters, so yeah…And the astronomy bit might be a little random, but I wanted to give Joe an unexpected hobby.**

**Oh! I would totally loved it if you guys reviewed. To ask questions, tell me how I'm doing story/writing-wise, or make suggestions. So please review and let me know what you guys think! Constructive criticism is awesome and flames make me a sad panda. And no one likes sad pandas (but I did recently discover , which makes me a happy panda…but I still don't like flames).**

**Thanks for reading and being so patient and understanding about the lack of updates!  
--v**


	6. Chapter 6: Nick

**Chapter 6: The kiss!**

**So I'm sorry about the lack of updates on this story. I had a serious bout of writer's block, and it was so bad that I was thinking about scrapping this story all together. But I'm back on track and so is this story, So yes…By the way, there is a bit of strong language used here, just so you know.  
**

**Thanks again for all the reviews and sorry I didn't have a chance to respond to any of them from last chapter, but just know that I absolutely love them! **

**Without further ado, here's chapter 6!**

**Disclaimer: Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers. I do not own them.**

**NJNJNJNJNJ**

**Chapter 6: Nick **

The first time Joe and Lilly kissed, it was…tasty. Seriously, that's the only way you could describe it.

Joe and Lilly had been dating for three months when Joe came home from a date with Lilly looking less than pleased.

"Okay," I said as he plopped onto the couch where I had been attempting to write a song. "That's not the typical 'I just went on the best date ever with Lilly' face. What gives?"

"Nothing much…" Joe muttered in response. "Just the fact that I'm an _idiot_."

My lips twitched, but I tried to suppress the smile that was fighting to the surface. "Oh, that."

Joe grimaced at me. "Cute."

"Seriously, what did you do? It couldn't have been that bad," I cajoled teasingly. It really couldn't have been that bad, could it?

"I haven't kissed her yet." Oh. That _was_ bad.

"Why not?" I exclaimed, a little louder than I intended to, I realized, when Kevin stuck his head into the room.

"Why not what?" he asked, curious.

"Joe hasn't kissed Lilly yet," I informed Kevin. Joe groaned next to me.

"Why not?" he demanded incredulously, echoing my earlier words. "You've been dating for three months!"

"I know!" Joe exclaimed. "Believe me, I know! And I've kissed her hand, her cheek, her forehead, even her nose…but when it comes to her lips I seem to have a little trouble." I snorted at that.

"A _little_ trouble?" Kevin asked, arching an eyebrow at our brother.

"Okay, fine, I totally freak out and do something stupid." I really wanted to laugh. I really did. Joe was usually pretty good with girls—not up to Kevin's level of romantic, but he was never this level of idiotic.

"Such as…" I prompted.

"Um…well, _she_ was going to give _me_ a kiss goodnight tonight but I chickened out at the last minute and…" Joe stopped in the middle of his sentence, unable to go on and burying his face in his hands.

"And?" Kevin and I asked eagerly. The suspense was practically killing us.

"I shook her hand," he groaned, and although his voice was a bit muffled I could hear the frustration and mortification.

"You didn't." I couldn't believe. No, I _wouldn't_ believe it.

"I did." He looked at us and it seemed like he wanted the couch to swallow him whole right then.

Kevin was the one who asked the important question. "What did she say?"

Joe grimaced. "She didn't really say much of anything. She stared at my hand in disbelief for a minute, then her face got all blank and she said good night in this really stony voice and went inside."

"I have absolutely nothing to say to that," Kevin admitted honestly. "I don't know how you're going to fix it –" He was cut off by my cell phone.

"Hey Miley," I said brightly, answering the phone without bothering to check the caller ID. I recognized the ring tone.

"Where is your brother?" Uh oh. I knew that tone of voice. It meant trouble.

"Uh—well—you see—" I stuttered, stalling for time and attempting to spare my brother from the wrath of my angry girlfriend.

"Joe. Now," she snapped. I meekly handed the phone over to the boy in question.

Kevin and I couldn't exactly hear what she said, but from the look on Joe's face it wasn't pretty. He tried to say something or protest but it seemed like she always cut him off. About five minutes later, I distinctly heard the words "FIX IT!" and he shut off the phone and handed it back to me.

"I'm dead," he moaned.

"You're not dead," I consoled him, trying to think of something, anything he could do to fix this. It wasn't really the not-kissing-her-yet thing…it was the handshaking thing that was the worst. "Just apologize. Maybe buy her flowers, a necklace?"

"Yeah," Kevin agreed. "Then we'll…well, we'll figure something out."

Joe nodded absentmindedly. "It's just that…what if I mess it up? I mean, I know I've kissed people before but with Lilly it's…it's different, you know? I don't want to screw it up."

"That's why you haven't kissed her yet?" Kevin asked disbelievingly. "Because you don't want to screw it up?" I had to admit, I had kind of a hard time seeing it myself. I mean Joe was just so self-assured most of the time…

"Well, yeah." Joe looked like it was the most natural thing in the world and…well, he was right. I was a nervous wreck before I kissed Miley for the first time. "What if I kiss her and it's the wrong moment or I do the wrong thing or…"

"You won't. Because it's Lilly and you lo—you like her a lot," I reassured him.

Joe straightened considerably as if suddenly struck by a revelation. "I love her," he whispered. "That's why it's so hard. Because I'm in love with her."

"Then when it's right, you'll know," Kevin said patting him on the shoulder. And leaving him to contemplate that, we exited the room.

Joe apologized to Lilly the next morning, and apparently it worked (I'm telling you, it was the flowers that he sent that did the trick). It seemed like everything was somewhat normal between them…they still talked and texted all the time, but whenever we were with them we felt a little bit of tension.

In an effort to kind of alleviate that, Miley and I decided to have a little dinner for the six of us at my house, figuring that everyone would be more comfortable when we were all together. Miley, Lilly and Oliver brought over some Jell-O, a chocolate cake and a cherry pie while my brothers and I made some salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and mashed potatoes.

Our parents had decided that it was a good idea to leave us all alone in the house, so they had gone out. Big mistake.

We ate dinner in the kitchen rather than the dinging room; I was seated next to Miley, who was sitting next to Oliver, and across from me was Kevin, then Joe and Lilly. Dinner was going really well until Lilly brought up Oliver's little crush. She and Miley knew who it was but my brothers and I didn't.

"So who is she Oliver?" I asked, insanely curious.

"You don't want to know," the other boy mumbled, blushing and going back to eating his mashed potatoes.

"Oh come on, Ollie. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's –" Lilly started to say but Oliver cut her off.

"Lilly," he said warningly. "Don't make me throw this at you." He had scooped up a glob of mashed potatoes and gravy and aimed it at his friend.

"You wouldn't," she taunted. "It's Mikayl—AHH!" She screamed as a glob of mashed potatoes hit her on the forehead. She gasped as she wiped it off her forehead with a napkin and Oliver smirked at her.

Joe looked torn between amusement and the need to defend his girlfriend; he chose the latter. "Hey, you can't do that to her!" Joe exclaimed, scooping up a handful of spaghetti and nailing Oliver in the face with it.

Miley cracked up at the sight of him, which of course earned her a plate of salad being tossed on her lap. But instead of retaliating against Oliver, she decided to get me involved and grabbed a handful of mashed potatoes and smeared it on my face. Meanwhile, Lilly had taken a plate of spaghetti and dumped it on Kevin's head while he was laughing his head off at everybody else. He then got picked up the cake and smashed it in Joe's face, who in turn wiped some of it off and spread it all over Lilly's face, and from that point, it was on. It was a madhouse, food flying left and right

At some point, we delved into the pie and the Jell-O, and Joe even went to the fridge and started throwing eggs. It didn't stop until we couldn't move because we were laughing so hard. We were all standing somewhat around the table again with towels to wipe off as much food off of ourselves as we could.

"Mom's gonna kill us," Kevin groaned. I agreed. There was no way we were gonna get this all cleaned up by the time they got home. But it was worth it. Food fights were so much fun!

I looked at Miley, who was trying to get mashed potatoes out of her hair next to me, Oliver, who was scooping some food off of his face and eating it, Kevin, who was already starting to clean up, and then at Joe and Lilly, who were standing in each others' arms and laughing uproariously. They looked ridiculous; a mixture of Jell-O, mashed potatoes, spaghetti, pie and egg completely coated their clothes. Surprisingly, despite everything else that the two were covered in, there was only chocolate cake smeared on their faces.

"I can't believe you started all this, Joe!" she teased. Joe looked affronted.

"Me? _Me_? You were the one who just _had_ to tease Oliver!" he protested.

"But you were the one who tossed the spaghetti at him!" she shot back.

"I was defending you!" Joe had a point there, I had to admit as I chuckled to myself.

That made Lilly smile. "You were, weren't you?" She hugged him tightly.

The expression on Joe's face changed, from one of mock indignation to one that was very difficult to place. "Yeah," he whispered. And that's when he did it. Chocolate covered faces and all, in front of all of us, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. I resisted the urge to cheer, and then I had to resist the urge to gag when they didn't come back up for air until a few minutes later. I know I shouldn't have been watching them, but it was hard to look away…like a train wreck or a car accident, except, you know…positive.

"Yum," Lilly murmured as Joe pulled back. And she kissed him again.

And I knew then that it didn't matter to them what the parents were going to say when they got back as they got lost in their own little world.

**NJNJNJNJNJ**

I was stunned, scared, shocked, when I heard that Lilly might not wake up. I looked at Miley and saw her pale, stricken face and I took her hand in mine. A few minutes ago she was begging to know something, anything. But now…I straightened my spine and tightened my hand around hers. We had to be strong, all of us, for Lilly and for Joe.

Joe.

His face was rough and haggard and looked like he was about to collapse at any second. "Can I see her?" he asked in an anguished whisper.

The doctor hesitated. "I'm not sure if you want to see her right now, Mr. Jonas."

"Please?" Joe pleaded. "I need to see her."

Giving a curt nod, the doctor relented. "Only for a minute or two. And just you, Mr. Jonas." And he led Joe to Lilly's recovery room. My brother emerged a few minutes later, looking even more shaken than he had when he entered.

Without a word, he sat back down again and buried his head in his hands. It reminded me so much of that day when he was worried about kissing Lilly. And now, here he was worried about having to live without her.

The doctor wouldn't let any of the rest of us see her as it was 6:00 in the morning and visiting hours didn't start til 8:00 a.m. While we were waiting, Miley and I somehow managed to convince Joe to shower and change into scrubs until we got him some clean clothes. Kevin finally let himself be led back to his recovery room. Jackson convinced my parents and Frankie to go home and get some rest, and they went with him in his car. Robby Ray went on a clothes run for everybody, and while we knew that there was no point in us staying, Joe, Miley, Oliver, Heather and I stayed and waited until we could visit Lilly.

When Robby Ray returned with fresh clothes for everyone, he also had some big news. "The police found the guy that did it."

This information certainly made everyone sit up straighter and take notice.

"They saw him driving Joe's car, pulled him over and found a gun on him, as well as some blood stains on his clothes. They think that it's Lilly's," Robby Ray told us gently.

My heart clenched at that last sentence. The blood could be Lilly's. But they caught the bastard. The law would make sure he was punished for what he did to our family. Miley squeeze my hand tightly.

"Where is he?" Joe asked, barely concealed rage simmering beneath the surface.

"At the Malibu police station," Robby Ray answered. "They have him in a holding cell."

Without a word, Joe jumped to his feet and stormed off. Miley and I exchanged worried looks and I headed off after him. He was walking so quickly that I had to run to catch up to him as he was exiting the hospital.

"Where are you going?" I demanded, attempting to catch my breath. Joe didn't stop. He just kept walking. He didn't answer either. "Come on, Joe. Where are you going?"

"To kill the fucking bastard," he finally growled, a mixture of fury and sorrow etched into every line of his face.

"No, you're not," I told him, trying to stay calm. I had to admit, his plan sounded good right about now, but we couldn't do that.

"Wanna bet?" he challenged, whirling around to face me. It frightened me, the expression on his face; he was my brother and even I was afraid that he might hit me. "By the time I'm done with him, he'll wish he had never been born."

"Yeah, but you'll be in jail, Joe. He's in a police station. You can't do anything to him there!" I exclaimed trying to reason with him. This wasn't my brother, this violent and vengeful person, and I wanted him back. We _needed_ him back.

"Doesn't matter. As long as he suffers and as long as I kill him, it'll be worth it." He turned and began walking again.

"What about Lilly, huh, Joe?" That stopped him in his tracks. Good. I was getting through to him. "What about what will happen when Lilly wakes up and finds out that you're in jail? Do you think that'll make her happy? When Lilly wakes up, she'll need you by her side, not rotting away in some cell. When she wakes up, Joe. _When_, not if. She'll need you."

This seemed to take all the wind out of his sales and he slumped in defeat. "I want him to suffer."

"He will," I promised as I took him back up to the hospital waiting room, not sure if this was a promise that could be fulfilled. "He will."

**NJNJNJNJNJ**

**So yay! There it was! I was actually really pleased with the kiss so that at least makes me happy. Next chapter: The night of the shooting, so get ready!**

**I love getting reviews, so if you guys wanna leave any that would make me super happy!**

**Thanks for reading!  
--v**


	7. Chapter 7: Kevin

**AHH! It's chapter 7! Run! Hide! Or, you know, read it. I hope you do that last one…Whoa, I'm hyper. Sorry about that…anyway, here's chapter 7, in which the events of the shooting are revealed. Dun dun DUUUUUUUUN. Alright, that's it, no more sugar for me…Oh, where was I? Oh yeah. Chapter 7. It's almost done! There are probably two more chapters left, and then this story will be finished! Weird, I know…Sorry about the rambling author's notes. If you've made it this far, I salute you!**

**Anyway, thanks so much for all the reviews, favorites, story alerts and everything. It just makes me so ridiculously happy that I can't even tell you… Anyway, thanks so much!**

**Disclaimer: Do not own any of the characters. Darn. And I don't own the song "Question" by the Old 97's which appears in this chapter.**

**KJKJKJKJKJ**

**Chapter 7: Kevin**

"Can you stay with me?" I murmured as the nurse rolled me back to my recovery room.

She hesitated. "I—"

"Please?" I begged. I didn't want to be alone. I couldn't be alone, not when I knew that there was a possibility that Lilly wasn't waking up. That would just kill all of us. It would completely destroy Joe, and I…I just needed to be near somebody, to draw comfort from them.

The nurse bit her lip, then agreed.

As soon as she settled me back in my bed, I lay back and closed my eyes. We sat in silence for a moment before I spoke.

"I need to tell you what happened," I whispered. Sleep was coming, but I tried to avoid it. If I slept, I might dream and if I dreamed of the shooting…

"Mr. Jonas, you need your rest." She put her hand on mine, and squeezed gently. It gave me a little bit of strength. "You should sleep."

"I—I need to tell it. To someone. Please, let me tell you." Images of Lilly's bloody body, Joe's blood-soaked clothes, and the smoking gun flooded my head, and I needed to make them go away.

After a long moment, I heard a whispered "okay" and I began my story.

**KJKJKJKJKJ**

The night of the shooting, was it only last night? Well, it was supposed to be a happy one. And it was, at first.

"I'm not nervous," Joe was saying over the phone. I was getting ready to leave to pick up my parents and Frankie when his phone call came. I rolled my eyes when I heard his voice.

"Sure," I replied sarcastically. Putting him on speaker, I pulled on my socks. "That's why you're calling me to tell me that you're not."

"I'm not!" His voice definitely gave him away, though. It cracked, which always happened when he was really, really nervous about something.

"Joe, lighten up. It's okay to be nervous. It's natural, but you know she's going to say y—"

Joe scrambled to cut me off. "Don't! The jinx gods will hear you!"

"Joe, there are no such thing as the jinx gods," I reminded him reassuringly as I slipped into my shoes. "We've been over this a million times! And don't worry, okay? You know she loves you and you love her. I mean you've been together for seven years!"

"I know." He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "I know. I just want everything to be perfect, you know? And it's bad enough that Heather, Robby Ray and Jackson can't be there…Do you think she'll hate me because they're not? There, I mean?"

"Relax," I told him while I snapped on my watch and checked the time. "Oliver is taping the whole thing. The important thing is that she's there and you're there and that you actually ask her, and that isn't going to happen unless you pick her up soon! It's 7:05."

I heard a muttered expletive and then nothing. He had hung up. Chuckling to myself, I shrugged into my jacket and made my way out of my apartment to pick up the rest of my family.

"Sorry I'm late," I said as mom and dad got into the back seat of my car. They wanted to sit next to each other, so Frankie got the front. "Joe called."

My dad grinned knowingly. "How's he doin'?" he asked.

I chuckled. "Oh, not too bad. Just a nervous wreck, is all. Nothing to worry about."

Mom ruffled my dad's hair. "Like father, like son. Kevin, you should have seen your father before he proposed to _me_. He looked like he was going to throw up!"

Dad blushed. "I did not!"

"Yes, honey, you did," she countered, patting his cheek. "But I said yes, didn't I?"

"That you did," he agreed as he leaned in to kiss her. "I don't know why you did, but I'll be forever grateful."

Looking at my parents, I caught a glimpse of what I thought Joe and Lilly would be like in the future, and suddenly I couldn't wait to get to the restaurant. Frankie just rolled his eyes.

By the time we got there, Miley, Nick and Oliver were already there in the private dining room we had reserved, and were as antsy as I was. Everyone knew that Joe was proposing tonight. Everyone except Lilly, that is. She thought that we were going out to celebrate finishing up recording our seventh CD.

Joe had been planning to ask Lilly to marry him for the past two years; he just hadn't gathered enough courage to do it until now. A month ago, he had gone to Lilly's mom and asked for her permission to propose to Lilly. Then he went to Miley and Oliver and asked for their approval, too. Miley, needless to say, was ecstatic. It was all we could do to keep her from telling _everybody_. Oliver was a bit more reserved, staring Joe down for a good three minutes, while my brother started squirming out of nervousness, before a wide grin broke across his face and he welcomed him into the family. Not that the six of us and our parents hadn't made our own little family to begin with…it would just be official now. All Joe had to do now was ask her.

"Hey everyone," Lilly greeted as she walked into the room ten minutes later, Joe with an arm around her waist. He kind of looked like he was about to pass out at any moment, and I discreetly gave him a thumbs up to try to give him a little more confidence. As Lilly went around the room to greet everybody, Joe walked up to me.

"I can't do this," he blurted out. "She's going to say no. I can't do this. I can't do this." For a second I thought he was going to hyperventilate.

I put my hands on his shoulders. "Joe. Calm. Look at that girl over there. Just look at her," I commanded, gesturing towards Lilly who was currently teasing Oliver about something. She was radiant, practically glowing with happiness. "Can you honestly see yourself _not _spending the rest of your life with her? You love her, she loves you, and that's what matters."

It was like she could sense us looking at her because she turned to us and gave a little wave and just like that, Joe was okay. He took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders. "You're right. I can do this. Thanks." With that he walked towards Lilly and put his arms around her and I knew that he was going to be fine.

The restaurant Joe chose was a favorite of ours, and the food was, as usual, fantastic. After dinner was over and while we were waiting for dessert, Joe surprised everyone. He whispered something to the waiter, who left and came back with an acoustic guitar, giving it to Joe. Joe scooted his chair back and positioned it so that he was facing Lilly, who had been sitting next to him at the table. Joe took a deep breath then gestured for Oliver to get out his video camera.

"So I know I'm not really the best Jonas with one of these," Joe joked to Lilly, gesturing to the guitar. "But there's this song that I want to sing for you. I didn't write it, but, well, it says what I need to say. It's called 'Question' by the Old 97's."

He started playing the guitar and began to sing:

_She woke from a dream  
Her head was on fire  
Why was he so nervous?  
He took her to the park  
She crossed her arms  
And lowered her eyelids_

Joe looked up and his eyes met Lilly's.

_Someday, somebody's gonna ask you  
A question that you should say yes to  
Once in your life  
Baby, tonight I've got a question for you_

_She had no idea  
Started to cry  
She said in a good way  
He took her by the hand  
Walked her back home  
And they took the long way_

_Someday, somebody's gonna ask you  
The question that you should say "yes" to  
Once in your life  
Maybe tonight I've got a question for you_

_I've got a question for you..._

By the time he was finished, mom and Miley were definitely crying and, though I'll never admit it out loud, I definitely felt a few tears welling up in my eyes. It was cute, okay? Anyway, after he was finished he dropped down on one knee in front of Lilly, pulling a sapphire and diamond engagement ring (from Tiffany & Co.) out of his suit jacket pocket and taking her hand in his.

"I love you," he whispered to her, kissing the back of her hand. "And you've stuck with me for the past seven years, through all the ups and downs, the good times and bad. You've been the other half of me, the better half of me, for so long that I don't know how I could possibly function without you, and I don't want to find out. So what do you say we make it permanent? Will you marry me?"

There were tears streaming down Lilly's face and she couldn't speak, so she nodded instead. Joe's smile could have lit up the entire world as he slipped the engagement ring on Lilly's finger and she knelt with him and pressed her lips to his fervently, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

"This is real, right? It's not a joke?" I heard him mumble into her hair.

"No, it's not a joke. I'll be with you forever," she answered softly. "I promise." Joe kissed her again, just before Miley and my mom mobbed them with congratulations and demands to see the ring (Nick and I picked it out with him). As the girls were all gushing over everything, my brothers, Oliver, my dad and I all gathered on one side of the room.

"Well, bro, you did it!" I exclaimed, punching him on the shoulder.

Joe grinned happily and looked at Lilly. "Yeah, yeah I did."

My dad laughed. "Well, let's just hope she'll come to her senses," he teased.

"Nope." Joe turned to look at us solemnly. "I'm keeping this one. This is forever."

Our celebration dispersed soon after that, as Miley had to be at a Hannah thing the next day. It was crazy that although the public knew who she was now, she was always going to be Hannah Montana. But anyway, she had to make an appearance the next day and Nick had to drive her home, so we all decided to call it a night. We walked Miley and Nick to his car and then moved en masse to mine. My parents, Frankie, and I piled into the car and I turned the key.

"Uh-oh," I groaned as I heard the engine start, then sputter, then die. I tried again, but it didn't work. "Stupid car." I looked out the window and saw Lilly, Joe and Oliver still standing there talking, so I poked my head out the window. "Hey guys! Sorry to ask this, but could we bum a ride? My car isn't working."

"Sure!" Oliver agreed. "I've got plenty of room in my car."

"Why don't we take Kevin?" Lilly offered. "His apartment is out of your way, and he lives nearer to our area anyway."

"You guys don't mind?" I asked hesitantly. "You just got engaged."

"No worries, bro," Joe assured me. "Besides, you're on our way. You'll just have to give us a million dollars, but no big deal."

I made a face at Joe. "Thanks."

"Alright, well I guess this is where we say goodbye," Oliver declared. "I'm parked in the other lot."

We all hugged goodbye, and Joe, Lilly and I made our way all the way across the parking lot to Joe's Porsche.

"Why did you guys have to park so far away?" I whined while we were walking.

"We were running late! And don't whine, or you'll be out of the wedding party," Lilly teased, holding Joe's hand, her engagement ring twinkling in the street lights.

"Oh great, _please_ tell me you're not going to turn into a bridezilla," I complained good-naturedly. "We already know that Miley is definitely gonna be one of those when she and Nick get married, we don't need you to be, too."

Lilly giggled. "Can you honestly picture me as one of those?"

"Yes!" Joe and I declared in unison.

"Good luck with that one," I stage-whispered to Joe, earning a punch in my arm from Lilly. We were at the car, and Joe stood at the driver's side, unlocking the door while Lilly and I went around the front of the car to the other side.

"You know what? I'm not talking to either of you!" Lilly announced haughtily, tossing her hair.

Joe's eyes widened and pausing while opening the door. "Hey, I resent that! I was only telling the –" His sentence cut off when suddenly he slumped to the floor. I heard Lilly gasp beside me and the two of us started to rush over to Joe when a voice stopped us.

"Don't move!" That's when we noticed the man in black, a gun in one hand, Joe's keys in the other. We were near the front of the car, so we could just see Joe's hand on the ground. We couldn't see the rest of him, but it didn't look like he was moving anytime soon. I protectively stepped in front of Lilly, but she wasn't interested in being protected.

"Listen, just take what you want, okay?" Lilly said in a shaky voice, peering around my shoulder so she could see the man. It didn't seem like a good idea. The guy looked unstable as it was, and I noticed his finger twitching on the trigger. He didn't say anything. "Do you want the car? Just take it. We—we won't try to stop you or call the police. Just lower the gun and go, okay? Just take what you want."

It looked like Lilly's words got to him as he began to lower his gun, but the sound of another car starting in the parking lot startled him. Either on accident or on purpose, the gun went off and the piercing pain in my arm was enough to knock me to my knees.

"Kevin!" Lilly exclaimed, moving in front of me in an attempt to protect me from any other gunshots. I clutched my arm where the bullet had pierced it. The pain was excruciating and I couldn't process much, but then I heard a groan coming from the other side of the car.

Joe.

The guy heard it, too, because he suddenly swung around to look at my brother. Lilly panicked, thinking that the guy was going to shoot Joe. "No!" she yelled, starting to run to her new fiancé. The shooter swung the gun in her direction and three shots rang out into the night. Everything froze in horror for a moment. It was like none of us knew what was going on. But then Lilly dropped to the floor, blood blossoming over her green evening dress and dripping from her head.

The man took a step back slowly, then scrambled to open the car door, start the car and sped off, revealing a disoriented looking Joe kneeling on the ground. I started crawling towards Lilly's prone body when Joe saw her lying there, blood pouring from three separate wounds.

An agonized, keening sound ripped the air, and Joe scrambled towards her. "No, no, no, no, no!" he kept repeating, moving to cradle Lilly's body in his arms, trying to apply pressure to her temple and to her stomach to stop the bleeding. In no time, he was covered in her blood. The world was starting to spin and everything was getting darker as the pain in my arm was amplified, but I tried to shake it off. I shakily pulled out my cell phone and dialed 911. I vaguely remember explaining what happened while I knelt near Lilly's feet trying to catch my breath. I heard the ambulances, partially registered seeing Frankie, my parents and Oliver standing there, and I think I remember being loaded onto one ambulance. Then everything went black.

**KJKJKJKJKJ**

**So that's how it all happened! Let me know what you think! Like I said, this story is coming to an end, and it's really sad, at least for me, because this has definitely been my favorite story to write so far. So thanks, guys, for reading! Oh! And I suggest you all listen to the song "Question" by the Old 97's because I just think it's a fantastic song. I saw a youtube video a guy made that used this song to propose to a girl, which is where I got the idea from and I just think it's so cute.**

**Um, let's see, reviews make me really, really, really, happy and I would love it if ya'll wanted to leave some :-) So if you have questions or constructive criticism or anything like that, I'd love to hear them and it would totally make my day.**

**And one more thing: Joe Jonas in "Camp Rock" is love. A lot of love.**

**Thanks for reading!  
-v**


	8. Chapter 8: Oliver

The first time I'd ever seen Joe lose his faith was yesterday

**Second to last chapter! Yay! And sad at the same time, because I love(d) writing this story. This chapter is a lot shorter but I like it. Since Oliver was the one who's known her the longest, I really wanted to write a chapter showing his POV on everything.**

**  
Thanks so much for all the reviews/alerts/favorites and everything! Not to sound redundant, but they make me happy and I really appreciate them**

**Disclaimer: I don't own.**

**OOOOOOOOOO**

**Chapter 8: Oliver**

The first time I'd seen Joe lose hope was yesterday. It was a week after Lilly had been shot and he was losing faith.

And truth be told, I was beginning to lose it as well. Joe may have been the love of her life, her fiancé and her other half, but he hadn't known her for most of her life. He wasn't there when she first learned to skateboard, when her parents divorced, when her dog died, when she first met Miley, when she started high school… And Lilly was always there for me, too, throughout everything.

He may have been in love with her, but I loved her, too, in a different way, and it killed me to see her lying there.

And yesterday, it killed me to see _him_, as well. It wasn't just his physical appearance that was startling, although that on it's own would be enough to frighten anybody. His face was gaunt and haggard and it was like he'd aged ten years in seven days, which wasn't surprising considering that he had hardly moved from Lilly's side. That he hadn't really left the hospital, he didn't sleep and he hardly ever ate. For him, like for all of us, with every day that she didn't wake up, we all lost a little bit of hope.

On this particular day, Joe had pretty much lost _all _hope. I had come by the hospital after work, like I had everyday over the past week, with a bouquet of daisies in hand (Lilly's second favorite flower) when I saw that Joe had abandoned his post at Lilly's bedside, a spot he had never abandoned willingly over the past week. Instead, he was standing at the window, leaning his forehead against the glass looking more lost than ever.

"Joe," I said cautiously as I entered the room. Either he didn't hear me or he just ignored, because he didn't turn around. "Joe," I repeated, more forcefully this time. He turned then, and I almost had to take a step back. His eyes were empty, and for the first time in a week, it looked like he had died inside. Like he had given up hope.

He didn't speak for a moment, just staring at – no, staring _through_ me.

"Joe," I said again, softly this time.

"What if she never wakes up?" he asked. It was almost like a question to no one. I don't even know if Joe realized he had asked it.

"She will," I said confidently, because if I didn't believe it, what else did I have to hold on to?

"You don't know that," Joe protested in frustration. "You don't know that, I don't know that, even the _doctors_ don't know that!"

"I believe that she will, and you should believe it, too."

"Everyone has been telling me to 'believe' or to 'have faith,' but it's impossible when she's lying there and we have no idea if she'll ever wake up!"

I placed a hand on Joe's shoulder. "I know you're tired of hearing it, Joe, but you need to have faith, in God and in Lilly."

Joe turned away from me. "What good is having faith if it won't bring Lilly back?"

I tried to come up with an answer, but I couldn't think of a good one. Finally, I just said, "I have faith because it keeps me going. Because if I didn't, I couldn't go on. I know you can't imagine life without her, but neither can I. She's my best friend."

"I know," Joe whispered, turning back to me. "I know. I'm sorry."

Joe took his seat at Lilly's bedside once more and I leaned against the wall, looking at her. My best friend. I remember the first time I'd met her.

We went to the same preschool, and we had this coloring project to do. Lilly came up to me and grabbed my hand.

"I like your crayons," she said sweetly. Since she was pretty, I wanted to impress her, so I tried to go for a compliment.

"I like your hair. It's pretty," I replied. She smiled at me, and I thought maybe if I went on, she'd like me more. "It reminds me of a sponge." She tilted her head and laughed at me. I guess even back then, I was abysmal at flirting. Our preschool romance, however, went nowhere. My compliment didn't actually do much for her. In the end, it turned out all she wanted was my crayons, anyway, but we were best friends from that moment on.

We did pretty much everything together. My dad taught us both how to surf and skate, he took us fishing, He even took us to Lakers games when we were older. Our friendship changed when we met Miley, and even more so when we met Joe and his brothers, but it always stayed strong. For nineteen years, she had been as big a part of my life as my own mother and the truth was, I couldn't even begin to imagine how to live my life without her in it.

For a few hours, I stood there in the room with Lilly and Joe, silently watching as people came and went. Miley, Nick, Heather, Jackson, Frankie, and Mrs. Jonas all came and went at one point to look in on Lilly as I was silently willed my best friend to wake up. But nothing changed.

"You know," I said, breaking the silence shortly before visiting hours were over and it was just Joe and me. "Lilly hates silence. When we were in kindergarten and first grade, she was always the first one to lose the quiet game or Heads-Up Seven-Up. And playing Hide-and-Seek with her was always a waste of time because a lot of the time she would either stop to talk to someone before she could hide or she would get tired of hiding and come find _me_."

Joe cracked a small smile. "That makes me think of that time we got into this huge fight a few months back. I don't even remember what it was about, but when we were in the car it was dead silent for about five minutes before Lilly finally got frustrated and said, 'Can we get this silent treatment part of the fight over with already and make up? Because it's driving me nuts!' And just like that, the fight was over."

I laughed. "That's Lilly for you."

Joe's face became somber once more. "When Miley comes by, she usually talks to Lilly, like she's awake and she's going to answer. Miley thinks that it'll help wake her up."

It sounded like a good idea. "Maybe we should try it."

"I have," Joe replied. "It's just that I never know what to say."

There was another long stretch of silence before I broke it again. "Actually, would you mind if I had a few minutes alone with Lilly?" I asked. Joe nodded and left the room and I took the seat that he had occupied.

"So," I started, feeling a little awkward, like I was speaking to the room itself rather than my best friend. I tried to shake the feeling off. I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I told her about my day at work. But it felt awkward and stilted and completely unnatural. "Look, this isn't how we talk." I didn't know if I was saying it to her or to me, but it was true. "I mean, you don't care about what I do at work. Well, you do care, but not enough for us to actually _talk_ about it. I mean—you know what I mean? I guess I just want to tell you that you should come home. Haha, I can picture your spirit just hovering over your body like they do in movies, so I'm telling you, come back."

I took a breath and continued. "You're missing a lot by being in a coma. I know you can't help it, but still…. Like today before I came here, I stopped by Kevin's room and he was talking to a girl. She's pretty, too, and I think she's a nurse. Actually, I think she's the one who was taking care of him the night you were—well, that night. Anyway, it looked like he _likes_ likes her, and I need you here to tease him with me. Because if we don't do it, who else will? I need my partner in crime back."

"And the truth is," I told her. "Joe's not doing so good without you. I don't think he's left the hospital. Your doctor, Dr. Stevens, is actually letting him sleep in your room. Apparently his wife died of cancer last year and he knows what it's like to want to never leave the hospital when your loved one is there. But he needs you. And I need you, too."

"Do you remember the first day my dad taught us how to surf?" My heart clenched at the memory. "We were seven and you fell of your board, and when you didn't come up for a long time I freaked out. It was one of the worst moments of my entire life, and that was after knowing you for only three years. After nineteen, I definitely can't let you go. So come back. Please?"

I couldn't go on after that. It was just too much, and I took a deep breath to stem the tears that I knew were coming. Visiting hours were almost over, so I got up, kissed Lilly on the forehead, and stuck my head out of the room to call for Joe. He was very insistent that Lilly never be left on her own, because if she woke up he didn't want her to be alone.

"Anything?" Joe asked, as he came back into the room, cautious hope in his voice.

I shook my head. "But that doesn't mean we should stop trying."

Joe hung his head. "There are days when I'm so hopeful that she's waking up, and I tell myself 'Yes, she's waking up today. I can feel it.' Then there are days like today where it's just so hard to believe that she's gonna be okay, you know? And I try to keep believing, but it's been a week. When I look at her and she's so _still_ the fear just takes over and I don't know what to do."

I patted Joe's shoulder in understanding. "Just talk to her. I mean, you never know." I gave his shoulder what I hoped was a comforting squeeze and left. I knew I'd be back tomorrow.

**OOOOOOOOOOOO**

**So only one chapter left! I hope you guys liked this one! And I have nothing else to say in the author's notes. Weird… Oh! I have "Burning Up" stuck in my head…**

**Um, anyway, I would love it if you guys reviewed with questions, comments, new story ideas (although I have a fair amount of my own, I'm always open to new ideas), or constructive criticism. It would make me a happy panda.**

**Thanks for reading!  
-v**


	9. Chapter 9: Joe

**Last chapter! Thanks to all of you for sticking with this story. It really means a lot to me. Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, alerts and everything else. Of the stories I've written so far, this is the one I've enjoyed the most, and so I'm really glad that other people have liked it as well. You're all amazing, so…thank you!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hannah Montana or the Jonas Brothers.**

**JJJJJJJJJJ**

**Chapter 9: Joe**

I stood there for a second as Oliver left, thinking about what he had said.

"_Just talk to her."_ I looked at Lilly and my heart clenched. I dragged a chair closer to her bed, and I took her hand in mine. Her engagement ring twinkled in the light of the hospital room. It was hard to believe that a week ago we were so happy. We were going to get married and start our life together and everything was…perfect. And then that bastard took it away from us. We didn't even have a chance to fully enjoy the moment. I thought back to that night. Everything after I got hit over the head was fuzzy. I remember hearing voices and then a gunshot. I had groaned and tried to get off the ground. There were more shots and then I saw Lilly... I thought she was dead and I died inside, too. My stomach churned at the memory.

I was lucky that Dr. Stevens let me stay in Lilly's room. It was just so hard to be separated from her. People came to visit us everyday. Heather came every morning and usually stayed for a few hours until Robby Ray came by to visit Lilly and make Heather get some rest. Jackson usually called me a couple of times a day to see if there was any change in her condition and he visited a couple of times. My mom and dad came by for an hour in the morning and in the evening, with Frankie. Miley, Nick and Oliver came by everyday at different times, Miley talking to Lilly incessantly, determined to wake her friend with her voice. Nick and Oliver often just stood with me in silence, watching, waiting, hoping. Kevin came by a lot, as much to visit me as to visit Lilly. He was still recovering in the hospital, and he came by to talk to me about keeping up hope. I didn't really respond much, but he kept talking to me and I'll admit, it helped a little, until moments like these when we were alone at night in the dim light and it was silent and still.

Looking at Lilly now was hard. A bandage was wrapped around her temple and she was motionless, so unlike the Lilly I knew and loved, the Lilly who was so full of energy and life and happiness. The Lilly who made everyday worth getting up for, who challenged me and helped me grow, who…completed me. Kissing the back of her hand, I tried to think of something to say, something to bring her back to me.

"I love you," I whispered, just like I had told her everyday since the shooting. I reached over and stroked her hair. What else could I say?

"You know, the first time I ever saw you I thought you were pretty much the coolest girl in the entire world. And I was right. I didn't know it then, but I think I was in love with you, even then. I couldn't stop thinking of you or talking about you and just the thought of you made my entire day better."

I thought back to that day when I first saw her, tossing grapes with Oliver.

**JJJJJJJJJJ**

Lola was unlike any girl I had ever seen before, the hair notwithstanding. I mean, how many girls go to a concert and toss grapes backstage? There was just something so adorably endearing about her that I couldn't seem to resist. And as corny as it sounds, when I looked into her eyes it was just…immediate. The connection was just so strong (and when she blushed it was just too cute).

I felt like a complete idiot when the only thing that would come out of my mouth was "hi." She didn't seem to mind, though, and when she took my hand I could have sworn my heart was going to burst out of my chest. I really wanted to impress her with my grape tossing skills, and I stupidly challenged her, telling her that I was going to kick her butt. Naturally, that guaranteed that I would lose.

"If you beat me, I'll eat my bag. Or better yet, I'll kiss you," she had whispered to me jokingly.

"I'll remember that," I replied with a grin. Needless to say I didn't win any grape-tossing matches that night (and not for lack of trying on my part) but I had an amazing time and I couldn't wait to see her again. Except, idiot that I am, I forgot to get her number, which I couldn't believe! I had met the most amazing girl in my entire life and I forgot to get her number! I thought I wasn't going to see her again until I did two week later, and I pretty much made an idiot out of myself. Again. As usual.

If stopping singing in the middle of a song wasn't bad enough, I had to go and destroy the set, too. Now I've done a lot of dumb things in my life, but I had never been more mortified. One good thing came out of it, though. I found out that she cared when she ran over and fixed me up. It was really adorable, because she kept fussing over me (which I felt fantastic) and she even whipped a first aid kit out of her bag…It felt good. It felt right.

I don't know what it was, but it just felt so natural for us to be together. When I thought I'd lost my chance with her, I didn't know what to do with myself. I was just so confused because when I met Lilly I felt the same connection that I felt with Lola, which was understandable when I found out that they were the same person. But it all worked out in the end, and even with a few bumps along the rode (the handshake fiasco, would be an example) I think I knew that first year that she was the one.

Most of the stages of our relationship were played out on a less than private level, moments seen by our friends. And although I wouldn't change any of them for the world, it's the little private moments I cherished most.

While our first kiss was nothing short of amazing, it's another kiss that comes to mind when I think of that night. It was just after all of our parents had come in, yelled at us and forced us to clean up then yelled at us some more. Kevin and Nick were upstairs sulking, Miley had already driven Oliver home and I was walking Lilly out to her car. We had gotten so dirty from the food fight that she was now wearing one of my t-shirts and a pair of my sweatpants; her hair was damp, tied in a messy ponytail. I had to admit, I thought she had never looked more beautiful.

"So no going out for the next month?" Lilly asked as we got out to her car. I wrapped my arms around her.

"Nope," I sighed. "Except for official Jonas Brothers appearances. I can't believe it. I'm 19 years-old and I'm still getting grounded…"

She giggled. "Poor baby. If it's any consolation, I'm grounded, too. My mom says no surfing or skateboarding for a month and no phone, cell or otherwise, for two weeks."

I made a face. "Does this mean we can't see each other for a while?"

"Well she didn't say I couldn't come over here," she pointed out. "I'll stop by and we can play Rock Band and Guitar Hero and –" I cut her off with a kiss, and she smiled at me. "Or we could do that." She smiled up at me shyly. "Thanks for defending me."

I took her hand and kissed the tips of her fingers. "Always."

Another of my favorite memories was during Lilly's junior year, when she was over at my house studying (and stressing) over finals.

"I'm going to fail this test," she muttered. We were sitting on the couch and Lilly was intently studying her notes while I was studying her. "I'm going to fail and then I'll never get into college and I'll never find a job and I'll be a homeless bum and –"

I tugged on a lock of her hair to keep her from rambling on. "_Relax_, Lilly. One English test is not going to alter the course of your entire future. Just take a deep breath."

She did, and it seemed to calm her down. "Thanks. And thanks for putting up with me and all of the stress that seems to come with me."

I laughed. "No problem. And I remember you putting up with _me_ a few months ago when we were finishing up our CD and I kept biting peoples' heads off."

Lilly giggled. "I guess that's true."

"It is. Aaaand I think it's time for a break," I declared. I cut off the protest I knew was coming. "We can watch 'The Princess Bride.'"

"That's not fair. You know that's my biggest weakness," she pouted. "And I have three more poems to analyze and a novel to study before Monday. I can't afford to take a break."

I shook the movie case and looked at her with my best puppy-dog face. She tried to look stern but failed miserably. "You know you won't always win in this relationship."

"Hey, as long as you have me, you'll always win," I joked.

"Sad to say it, but it's true," Lilly sighed. "I do love you. And you'd better put on the movie before my brain realizes I should be studying."

That was the first time she'd said it to me. My heart caught in my throat as I put the movie in. I sat down on the couch and Lilly cuddled into my side as I put my arm around her and watched the movie. We were at the part where Fred Savage was complaining about the kissing parts when I pressed my lips to her hair.

"I love you, too," I whispered. Her only response was to cuddle closer, and that was enough.

**JJJJJJJJJJ**

I held her hand tightly, reliving all of my favorite memories of her, and of us together.

"I love you," I told her. "And I miss you more than I can say. In the past seven years, there hasn't been a day where we haven't talked, whether it's been a long discussion about life or just to say 'hi' or 'I love you.' And I just…I need you more than anything else in the entire world. There's no me without you, so please…wake up. Come back to me."

I squeezed her hand tightly, waiting for something, anything, to happen, staring at Lilly intently, willing her to wake up. I felt this instinct to try something very fairy tale. Leaning over, I gently pressed my lips to hers, hoping for a miracle. When nothing happened, I felt foolish. I mean, honestly what did I expect to happen? That true love's kiss would wake her up? That the sound of my voice would lead her back to me? I guess I figured that Lilly was my fairy tale, my happily ever after and maybe…just maybe…I knew that the expectations were unrealistic, but still…it hurt. I just wanted, no _needed_ her to wake up.

I thought back to the night of the proposal and how we thought we'd have a lifetime together.

"You promised," I whispered, more to myself than to her. "You promised forever and you never break your promises."

Still clutching her hand, I rested my head down on the side of the bed, tears streaming silently down my face. It had been a week already. Why hadn't she woken up? Would she ever wake up? I tried to picture life without Lilly and I couldn't do it. It hurt to even try. I don't know how long I sat there, resting my head on the Lilly's bed and holding on to her hand. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I felt a pressure on my hand. I thought it was a dream until I felt it again. Like someone else's hand squeezing mine. Not daring to let myself hope, I slowly lifted my head. I looked at Lilly, I had closed my eyes, take a deep breath, and open them again. My heart soared.

Her eyes were open. Droopy and heavy-lidded, but open.

She was awake, and everything was alright.

**JJJJJJJJJJ**

**So from the very first moment I envisioned this story, this is exactly how I wanted to end it. I know it might not be as satisfying for some readers, but I actually really like it. It's bittersweet to be finished with this story, because it's been so much fun and I've loved it, but at the same time it gives me more time to work on a new story idea I have.. Yay! **

**Thanks so much again for reading this story, and thanks for all the reviews that you all have left. And if you want to leave another review (or a first review) it would make me so ridiculously happy! **

**Thanks for reading!  
-v**


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